Glaswegian public’s perception of the impact of the economic recession and how it has affected consumer behavior The WritePass Journal

Glaswegian public’s perception of the impact of the economic recession and how it has affected consumer behavior Rationale Glaswegian public’s perception of the impact of the economic recession and how it has affected consumer behavior RationaleResearch objectives:Research questions: Literature reviewMethodologyThe research purpose:Research strategySampling strategyMethodsTimelineEthics of the researchRelated Rationale Consumption, in which consumers have a central role, plays a significant role in the wider economic system and for any business organization involved in providing products or services to the public (Gabbott, 2008). In other words, as pointed out by Gabbott (2008), the market will not exist without individuals behaving as consumers. Purchasing behaviour figures reflect the well-being of the economy and also reflect its prevailing trends at any given time. Therefore, the study of consumer purchasing behaviours could demonstrate whether or not an economy is progressing well. In a context of economic recession, which could be seen via the 1930s crisis and especially in the contemporary decline of the economy, the consumer market has been dealing with a big challenge (Hermann, 2009; Nistorescu and Puiu, 2009). Buyers react to any change in the economic situation around them by changing their spending habits. This happens due to a change in the levels of their perception of risk that is in fluenced directly or indirectly by income changes, high inflation, unemployment and interest rate. There are some different arguments around these issues but few of them raised the question on if policies are effective to solve the issue. Therefore, establishing how much consumers understand the current situation and the policies designed to tackle it are crucial, in order to assess how their behaviour has been affected. Research objectives:    To evaluate the extent of the public’s understanding of the effects of the financial crisis.    To evaluate the extent of the public’s understanding of government policy to influence purchasing and saving behaviour.    To establish if the public’s purchasing behavior has been affected. Research questions:    How much do the Glawegian’s public understand the effect of the recent recession?   Ã‚   How much do the Glaswegian’s public understand the government policy to influence purchasing and saving behaviour.   Ã‚   Whether or not the public’s purchasing behavior has been affected? and how much? Literature review Understanding buyer behaviours is of great importance and significance for successful marketing campaigns and business management. Consumer purchasing habits could be various including intricate trends. It is very hard to predict the level of intricacy of the decision-making process of consumers. The study of consumer behaviour is defined as the processes that individuals or groups perform making their buying decision in order to satisfy their needs (Hutchison, 2010; Perner, 2008).   The purchasing process can be seen in five stages. Beginning with emergence of a need which is a potential demand (Kotter, 1991), the consumer then start searching for information associated to that need. After evaluating some different alternatives, converting browsers to buyer is made with the most suitable one. The last stage comes after purchasing, when the buyer evaluates the choice made (Hutchison, 2010). It can be identified that the primary determination of buying behaviour is highly influenced by internal and external factors which initially emerge on the need of consumer (Chaudhuri, 2006). This means that beside some basic internal factors such as favourite, appetite, there is also a set of external factors as the environment surrounding the consumer and influencing their purchasing choices, in which economic circumstance is one elemental participant. The financial crisis, which appeared from 2007, has pushed the world economy into a time of deep downturn. This inevitably leaded to an enormous influence on the economic and social aspects of consumers or spending habits for instance. As stated by Nistorescu and Puiu (2009), during recessions, the spending pattern of people is likely to change. This could be caused by the change in their perception of risk. In addition, in terms of psychological thought, they tend to spend less or almost no money on luxury products, even if they still could afford to do so. Only vital demands and product of cheaper brands could be considered and also the rational point of view on promotion is examined more carefully as comparing products based on price rather than quality (Nistorescu and Puiu, 2009). Based on Flatters’ and Willmott’s (2009, pp 106-108) methodology by comparing response of people during recession with their behaving before that, consumer’s behavioural change coul d be absorbed as the relationship between how much they are willing to pay and their perception of the value they are receiving. However, the method seems to be not easy to achieve a precise result, as known that their attitude is not only involved an economic aspect but also a social feature. All increasing unemployment or even falling of wages, rising inflation and interest rates or taxes, which are recognised as the cue of a slowdown of the economy, are facts that affect the consumers in almost all national markets. The economic decline is frequently accompanied by concerns about job security for employees. As noted by Katona (1974), during the recession consumers are motivated to save more because of threats associated to their income. On his view, that saving rates depend on the economic situation and psychological factor. Hence, the more serious impact is on people who directly have been harmed by decreasing wages or cutting jobs. Nonetheless, this concept may not justify accurately the behavioural buying of people who is influenced by uncertain salary. In some cases, consumers in different levels of change in earning behaved the same in their new saving patterns. Another important sector, which is reflected in climbing of price, is inflation. Higher prices and money depreciation are identified to be the main factors preventing the consumers from sustaining consumer’s usual levels of spending. As explained by Lambin and Jacques (1993), during inflationary time, all cost tend to increase, therefore, raising product price is often necessary for maintaining profit of company at an acceptable level. Again, this causes decline in sale revenue or in other words, consumers reduce their spending. Nevertheless, tax and interest rate, which are the important factors influenced on buyer’s attitude throughout non-observation, are not mentioned even though they could be the big agents of inflation. Moreover, the psychological outcomes of the recession have extended worldwide as a huge concern. According to Dholakia and Sidney (1987), the overall outcome of depleted economic circumstances influences on consumer feelings of difficulty, lack of confidence and hardship. Building on the pioneering study of George Kantona, Solomon (2009) states that whether the extent of the health of an economy is likely to be optimistic depend on the confidence of consumer about future. However, the perception about this effect of the economy is distinct and can be classified into some cohorts like age, marital status, household size, education, income and so on (Amalia and Ionut, 2009). In contrast, the psychological impact is a very wide aspect and should be studied in particular area. Some studies seem to be broad when merging a general trend of the impact of the economic recession on purchasing behaviours over the world. This leads to difficulties of giving accurate evaluations. The effect depends on particular society with its own economic system including policies. There are also very few research on reaction of consumer on the reform projects of government in context of the recession such as modifying tax and interest rate. The best way to know whether a new trial policy is developing properly is observing how people are understanding and responding it. Therefore, this research task is to find the answer for the question: what is going on in the consumer’s mind in this context of the economic recession within Glasgow city, based on the Glaswegian’s public attitudes. The mission of policy and its effects are also studied by evaluating consumer’s knowledge on it. Methodology    The research purpose: In terms of expectations for converting the research objectives to new knowledge, this project expects to establish the level of change in consumer’s mind, such as the extent of consumer’s understanding of the impacts of the recent economic decline and understanding the impacts of reform policies of government and also how its effects on their purchasing habits by comparing different perceptions from different factors and different classes of society in Glasgow. On the other hand, in order to build up new knowledge based on foundations of previous researches, a literature review is vital to help understanding the basic background and the emerged issue (Saunders et al, 2009, p 61). This secondary information was critically reviewed some researches on changes of consumer behaviours in situations of the economic crisis to recognise the issues, such as lack of study on consumer’s understanding the effect of the situation and the effect of the policies, which need to fulfill in the primary research phase. Research strategy To come up with the study of people’s attitudes on the effect of the recent recession, a survey strategy seems to be appropriate by its advantages in colleting a large amount of data with a quick timeline (Saunders et al, 2008, pp144-145). In addition, the data collected will be easy to compare between attitudes from different groups by statistical calculations. In deed, aim to discover the general attitudes of participant, questionnaire system will be operated as a quantitative approach. These data could be assembled according to the majority rule. However, the data collected from questionnaire is unlikely to be much wide-ranging because the numbers of question could be limited and sometimes it cannot cover all aspects expected. Thus, there may be also involved non-standardised interviews in order to collect in-depth information (Kumar, 2005). The qualitative answers could be variable and should be criticised consistent with quantitative evidences, in order to establish if th e public’s purchasing habit has been affected. Sampling strategy It is impossible to ask every individual in Glasgow for collecting data. Therefore, only a limit amount of population will be selected to conduct an outcome of entire citizen. As stated by Saunders et al (2008,p212), studying on the populations, in which an appropriate amount of people is chosen to sample, could stand for a whole. It will be involved a variable number of Glaswegian’s publics. This means that the major, the location, the age and the sex of participants will be expected to come from different areas. A probability of sampling will be used to include 100 participants, which seem to be enough to have an effective result. It means that each individual will be selected random or they have an equal opportunity of being involved or not. This aims to gain an equal outcome when data is averaged. The process will be started around city centre of Glasgow and then expand to some greater places or probably countryside as well. Methods In order to undertake a general attitude of respondents about the effect of the recent economic recession, a questionnaire system, which is a data collection technique in which each participant responds to the same list of questions (Saunders et al, 2008, p360), seems to be an effective choice. This series of questions is designed following categories: the level of understanding of impact of the downturn, the level of understanding the purpose of the government policy, the level of the change their habits. Within each these patterns, possible questions will be listed in detail. It is expected to include 30 questions, which are brief and quality. Then, some interviews, in which revealing the answers of the â€Å"why† questions is a big advantage (Saunders, 2008, p323), could be made with some additional questions if they are necessary. These interviews could be on discovering other factors, which are not mentioned on questionnaire, are influencing people’s buying habits during this hard time. The numbers of interviewee may be 10 people chosen from different cohorts. Timeline With a limit of time for undertaking this research, a systematic timeline is truly essential. Since the proposal was completed, it should be taken few days for updating literature and starting some writing drafts. Two weeks then should be spent on preparing some materials for interviews and designing questionnaire including sampling plan. The collection data process could take quite long time by looking for participants and travelling. A suggestion for this is 2 weeks. Data collected will be converted to database on computer and will be turned to calculation of statistics. This whole process is expected to spend about 1 week and a haft. The important step is a comparison of results gained with literatures.   This step is estimated to cost around 2 weeks. Two or three weeks later should be spent on writing project and fixing any error, which could emerge. This whole project is planed for around 10 or 11 weeks. Ethics of the research Ethics, as defined by Cooper and Schindler (2008:34, cited in Saunders et al, 2009, p.184), is the â€Å"norms or standards of behaviour that guide moral choices about our behaviour and our relationships with others†. Thus, a research conducted must methodologically and morally guarantee to every individual who are both directly and indirectly related (Saunders et al, 2009). In addition, this should be sustained during the whole research stages and after its outcome released as well. Based on this principle, this proposal is following the ethics below: The data of participants will be treated confidentially and anonymously as ensuring that theirs privacy is stored securely and safely (Bell, 2005, pp.48-49). They are also informed clearly the goal and process of research in which they are to be engaging and inclusively their role. A consent form, which contains detail of legal rights, privacy, use of participant’s data, recording of interview and so on, will be made carefully. They will be aware of their rights in which they are able to withdraw partly or totally from research at anytime with no reason (Bera, 2004). This mean that they could reject any question they do not want to respond. This research will be undertaken by getting involvement of attitudes of the public in Glasgow. Any sensitive issue and also any effect, which is seemed to be immoral and harmful to any one, will be avoided fully from its design to its achievement. Reference Amalia, P., and Ionut, P. (2009). Consumers’ reaction and organizational response in crisis context, The Journal of the Faculty of Economics. University of Oradea. 1(5) pp. 779-782. Bell. (2005) chapter 3: Ethics and Integrity in Research. Bera (2004) Revised ethical guidelines for education research. From:www.bera.ac.uk/publications/guides.php Chaudhuri, A. (2006) Emotion and Reason in Consumer Behaviour. London: Butterworth-Heinemann. Dholakia, R. R. and Sidney, J. L. (1987) ‘Effect of recent economic experiences on consumer dreams, goals and behavior in the United States’ Journal of Economic Psychology. 8: pp. 429-444. Flatters, P., and Willmott, M. (2009). Understanding the post-recession consumer. Harvard Business Review. 7(8) pp.106-112. Gabbott, M. (2008) ‘Consumer behavior’ in Micheal J. Baker and Susan Hart (eds). The Marketing Book. Oxford: Elsevier. Hermann, S. (2009) ‘The crisis and customer behaviour: eight quick solutions’ Journal of Customer Behaviour. Vol. 8, Issue 2, p177-186. Hutchison, T. (2010) ‘Markets, Market Segmentation, and Consumer Behavior’ in Thomas Hutchison, Amy Macy, and Paul Allen (eds). Record Label Marketing. Oxford: Elsevier. Katona, G. (1974) ‘Psychology and Consumer Economics’ Journal of Consumer Research. 1 pp. 1-8. Kotter, P. (1991) Marketing management, 7th edn. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice – Hall Inc. pp 539-541. Kumar, R. (2005) Research methodology: a step-by-step guide for beginners. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Lambin and Jacques, J. (1993) Strategic Marketing Management. England: McGraw-Hill Book Company. Nistorescu, T. and Puiu, S. (2009) Marketing strategies used in crisis case study. MPRA Paper 17743. Germany: University Library of Munich. Perner, L. (2008) Consumer behaviour: the psychology of marketing. University of Southern California. consumerpsychologist.com viewed 24/01/11. Saunders, M., Lewis, P., and Thornhill, A. (2009) Research methods for business students. England: Pearson Education Limited. Solomon, M. (2009) Consumer behaviour, buying, having being. USA: Pearson Education Inc.

Simple Écouter Verb Conjugations in French

Simple Écouter Verb Conjugations in French When you want to say to listen to in French, use the verb  Ãƒ ©couter. In order to change it to the past tense listened to or the future tense will listen to, a simple verb conjugation is required. A short lesson in the most common forms of this useful verb will show you how thats done. Conjugating the French Verb  Ãƒâ€°couter Écouter  is a  regular -ER verb  and it follows a very common conjugation pattern. This is good news for students who find these challenging because you can apply the infinitive endings you learn here to many other verbs. These include  assister  (to assist) and  donner  (to give). To change  Ãƒ ©couter  to the present, future, or imperfect past tense, simply match the appropriate subject pronoun to the tense. For instance, I listen to is jà ©coute and we listen to is nous à ©couterons. Subject Present Future Imperfect j coute couterai coutais tu coutes couteras coutais il coute coutera coutait nous coutons couterons coutions vous coutez couterez coutiez ils coutent couteront coutaient The Present Participle of  Ãƒâ€°couter The  present participle  also builds off the verb stem with the -ant  ending to form  Ãƒ ©coutant. This is an adjective, gerund, or noun in some circumstances as well as a verb. The Past Participle and Passà © Composà © The  passà © composà ©Ã‚  is a familiar way to express the past tense listened to in French. To construct it, conjugate the  auxiliary verb  avoir  to fit the subject pronoun, then attach the  past participle  Ãƒ ©coutà ©. For example, I listened to becomes jai à ©coutà © and we listened to is nous avons à ©coutà ©. More Simple Écouter  Conjugations Should you wish to express that the action of listening is questionable or not guaranteed, use the subjunctive verb mood. Similarly, when the action is dependent on something else happening, the conditional verb mood is employed. In formal writing, you will come across either the passà © simple or the imperfect subjunctive forms of  Ãƒ ©couter. Recognizing these will improve your reading comprehension. Subject Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive j coute couterais coutai coutasse tu coutes couterais coutas coutasses il coute couterait couta coutt nous coutions couterions coutmes coutassions vous coutiez couteriez couttes coutassiez ils coutent couteraient coutrent coutassent The imperative verb mood is used in short and often assertive statements. When using it, theres no need to include the subject pronoun: use à ©coute rather than tu à ©coute. Imperative (tu)           Ã‚  Ãƒ ©coute (nous)     Ãƒ ©coutons (vous)     Ãƒ ©coutez

Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Risk Management - Essay Example ...... 6 Step Seven – Policies †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 Conclusion †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..... 7 References †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 9 The Fukushima Disaster: Lessons in Risk Management I. Introduction The Fukushima disaster is probably one of the most terrifying nuclear disasters in recent memory. Before March 2011, it was almost unimaginable for Japan to be on the threshold of a potential nuclear disaster. The nuclear disaster was, in fact, the result of another—equally horrific—disaster, the infamous tsunami that killed ‘tens of thousands of people’ (McCoy 2011). The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2011) found that around 25,000 people were dead or missing as a result of the tsunami disaster, which began on 11 March, 2011, 14:46, Japan standard time. Figure 1. Nuclear Plants in Japan, including Fukushima Source: U.S. NRC 2011, p. 7 Ronald McCoy is one of the first researchers to document the Fukushima disaster. According to McCoy (2011), Japan experienced several disasters in March 2011, beginning with the ‘record-breaking’ earthquake that occurred, measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale (p. 41). The earthquake and aftershocks that took place northeast of Honshu Island triggered a ten-metre tsunami that killed more than ten thousand people. ... According to McCoy, when the earthquake occurred, the six nuclear plants at Fukushima, which were owned by Tokyo Elect Power, were shut down automatically. The earthquakes ‘knocked-oun the power grids, forcing operators to fall back on diesel generators’ (McCoy 2011, p. 4X). However, the plants still needed access to power to ensure that the coolants, which are essential for cooling the ‘hot reactor cores of the radioactive uranium and plutonium power rods’, remained flowing. However, ‘the tsunamis swept in, knocked out the generators and cut off power’ (McCoy 2011, p. 41). As a result, four out of the six plants immediately overheated. Finally, an ‘explosion damaged fuel rods and the integrity of the primary containment structure’ and, as a result, radiation was released (p. 41). This essay analyses the risks involved using the 7-steps risk management cycle, which is described in the diagram below. II. Risk Identification (Step 1) Ionising radiations from nuclear power plants ‘can damage DNA, causing cancer and inherited mutations’ (McCoy 2011, p. 41). The risk of mutation and cancer is proportional to exposure to radiation (p. 42). In addition, ‘radiation [can] kill and injure thousands’ and ‘contaminate and render uninhabitable large tracts of land’ (p. 42). Unfortunately, the Fukushima nuclear accident happened because the plant had been designed on the basis of incorrect assumptions about the risks of the region (McCoy 2011, p. 42), in particular, that earthquakes greater than 7.9 on the Richter scale, and tsunamis higher than 6.7 metres were improbable. According to Takashi Shoji (2011, Slide 10),

Logic Model and Performance Managements Assignment

Logic Model and Performance Managements - Assignment Example The program is further meant to provide better health care services to the LGBT community without any discrimination on the basis of gender, age, race and cultural background. Additionally, the program is geared towards the provision of specialised treatments to the LGBT community. The program further is aimed to provide security to the LGBT community and avoid any kind of ill-treatment or any other kind of discrimination. The program is also meant to undertake serious public awareness initiatives in order to recognize and treat the LGBT community with due respect and also value them as other human beings. Failure to honour the heath care needs of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender lead to trauma, societal discrimination and worse health risks by the affected subjects. Increase in psychological and mental disorders especially in lesbian, gays, bisexuals and transgender is associated to societal discrimination. This aspect makes most of the people in the group to engage on drug and substance abuse, homophobia, suicidal activities among others (Ortiz-Hernà ¡ndez, 2015). With proper implementation of the program, the LGBT community will be fully incorporated in the society and their contributions to the societal growth will be upheld. Home needs services will ensure that lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender are fully incorporated in the communities or societies they live and hence accorded due respect. The success of the program is dependent on the effectiveness of the various awareness campaigns and initiation of the better policies to overcome any kind of discrimination (Price 2011). Training medical practitioners on various issues related to LGBT community and provision of specific medical attention has made the LGBT Community Program to be a success. Through the abolishment of societal discrimination, the LGBT community is engaged in day-to-day running

Person- Centred Counselling in Action by Dave Mearns & Brian Thorne, 1988 Essay Example for Free

Person- Centred Counselling in Action by Dave Mearns Brian Thorne, 1988 Essay Person- Centred Counselling in Action by Dave Mearns Brian Thorne, 1988 Person-centred counselling originated in 1930’s and 40’s from the work of the American psychologist Carl Rogers. Rogers came to believe that as it is the client who is hurting, then ultimately it is the client themselves who holds the answers about how best to move forward. At the time, this approach was a departure from others forms of counselling which relied on clients being advised, guided or somehow influenced on which direction to take. Using the person centred approach, it is the counsellor’s job to help the client connect with their own inner resources enabling them to find their own unique solutions. In this book the authors undertake to explain the theories and principles of person centred counselling by relating them to actual practice. The book is intended as a practical and comprehensive guide for trainee counsellors, those training them and also for established counsellors wishing to familiarise themselves with the person centred approach to counselling. Coming from the standpoint of someone just starting out as a trainee counsellor, the writer was first attracted by the short, snappy title of ‘Person Centred Counselling in Action’. The word ‘action’ hints that the work will not be a dry, difficult to read book concentrating only on the theoretical side of things but the reader will actually get to see how the process works in practice. In this regard, the book did not disappoint. -2- The main body of the book explores in some depth, the conditions (known as the core conditions) of empathy, acceptance and congruence, which are essential to the practice of the person- centred counsellor. The final three chapters draw on one particular case study showing how the core conditions are used in practice. These final chapters look at the experience from both the counsellor’s and the client’s point of view. The writer found the contents of the book to be written in a logical fashion and in the main uses straight forward language. The writer felt that the down to earth style of writing and avoidance of jargon made the book more accessible than some others of the same genre. Also very helpful is that as  new concepts are introduced, examples of the concept being discussed are highlighted in boxes throughout the text. This helped to reinforce the writer’s understanding of ideas that are unfamiliar to her at this stage of her learning. One of the main themes of the book is an in-depth exploration of the three elements that make up what is referred to in person centred literature, as the ‘core conditions’. In the first chapter the book clearly states what these are as follows: â€Å"The creation of a growth producing climate in a therapeutic relationship requires  That the counsellor can: 1. be genuine or congruent 2. offer unconditional positive regard and total acceptance -3- 3. feel and communicate a deep empathic understanding† While this statement is useful for clarity it is obvious on reading further that these conditions are not easily attained. They take commitment on the part of the counsellor to develop and maintain these attitudes and are so significant, say the authors, that not only do they have profound implications for the counsellor’s professional practice but also for the counsellor’s life as a whole. This thought makes the writer pause and reflect on how powerful the core conditions are and the words ‘life changing’ spring unbidden to mind. Although in practice, the core conditions are inextricably linked, for the purposes of this review the writer has chosen to focus on the book’s exploration of acceptance or ‘unconditional positive regard’. The authors speak of unconditional positive regard as being an attitude held by the counsellor and give the following clear definition: â€Å"Unconditional positive regard is the label given to the fundamental attitude of the person-centred counsellor towards her client. The counsellor who holds this attitude deeply values the humanity of her client and is not deflected in that valuing by any particular client behaviours. The attitude manifests itself in the counsellor’s consistent acceptance of and enduring warmth towards her client†. It struck the writer that although this attitude of unconditional positive regard can be viewed as highly commendable, it may also in practice, be difficult to attain. The writer agrees with the -4-  authors’ opinion that unconditionality cannot be guaranteed due to each counsellor being fallible, human and having personal limits. The writer however questions the authors’ statement that â€Å" the person centred counsellor is likely to be ‘less conditional’ than most other people with whom the client will relate†. The writer feels that this is a sweeping generalisation of clients’ relationships and may not be true. That said, the writer believes that the attitude of unconditional positive regard is one that every counsellor, irrespective of tradition, should actively seek to develop and maintain. The authors pose the question â€Å"Why is unconditional positive regard important? † In answer to this question a picture is drawn of a client who has been brought up to believe that it is only by meeting conditions imposed on them by significant others that they have any value. By consistently having an attitude of unconditional positive regard and by valuing the client in their own right, irrespective of conditions imposed by others, the counsellor is directly challenging the client’s long held beliefs about their self- worth. The authors describe the client as being in a negative, self-defeating cycle, not expecting to be valued and relate to others by being self-protective or defensive. They may well be displaying behaviours that drive others away such as being inappropriately aggressive, not showing any feelings or perhaps withdrawing from any demanding social contact. In driving others away, the client’s belief that he is unworthy or unlovable is reinforced. The authors explain that by having an attitude of unconditional positive regard, the counsellor can gradually break into the client’s self- defeating cycle. Once the cycle is broken, the client -5- no longer needs to be defensive towards the counsellor. His fear reduces and an environment of trust and safety is created where the client feels able to explore what troubles him. The authors claim that not only will the client have been influenced to question conditions of worth imposed on him and been helped to become less defensive but that somehow the client will begin to experience the counsellor’s attitude for himself and begin the journey towards self-acceptance. The writer, though inexperience, agrees with the writers’ view that the counsellor’s attitude of unconditional positive regard can eventually have dramatic positive effects for the client. The writer also takes on board the authors’ advice to bear this dramatic effect in mind, early in the therapeutic process when the client can display a number of difficult, off-putting behaviours. There was some discussion by the authors about ‘defensive’ clients. They give examples of three clients with very different problems. Mary an unkempt 45 year old lady with poor personal hygiene who is filled with self-loathing; Roger a hard-nosed 35 year old, cut-throat business man who blames his wife for all their marital problems and James a suspicious, angry 18 year old who used most of his first counselling session to verbally abuse the counsellor. It later became clear that the three clients had four things in common: 1. They all had a deep sadness, 2. Felt intensely unloved, 3. Did not love themselves and 4. Were all extremely vulnerable. The authors note that although the clients behaviours were very different their defensiveness was acting as a shield which repelled others and hid what kind of people they really were. The -6- authors advise that unconditional positive regard means that the counsellor should not be put off by these behaviours but should continue to value the worth of the client and eventually earn the right to be given access to what lies behind the shield. The writer can imagine that it could sometimes be difficult for the counsellor to accept their client. The authors examine this problem in some depth and also give practical steps for the counsellor to take when confronted with this situation. They advise the conscious use of empathy which helps the counsellor to focus more on the client and less on her own negative feelings towards the client. Using empathy can also encourage the client to open up more and cause the counsellor to question her earlier judgement. The authors also suggest that it would be beneficial for the counsellor to explore the matter more fully in supervision. The dislike belongs to the counsellor, say the authors and is therefore her responsibility to deal with it and not blame the client for her feelings. In the chapter on unconditional positive regard, the authors go onto discuss in some depth other matters worthy of consideration and study such as ‘Can the Client Accept My Acceptance? Focus on Warmth’, ‘Focus on Conditionality’ and ‘Accepting the Client who loves you’. Unfortunately time does not allow the writer to discuss these topics any further. The writer found the whole book very engaging and informative and would recommend the newer edition to anyone wanting to learn more about person-centred counselling. Its ‘hands on’ style is very readable and gives many useful examples of the process in action. In conclusion, it ‘does what it says on the tin’! (Word Count 1,565)

Marketing Principles :: GCSE Business Marketing BTEC Coursework

Marketing Principles A. Definitions 1. ABC ABC stands for activity based costing. This is defined as a method which identifies various activities needed to provide a product and determines the cost of these activities. I would say it is a method of breaking down the process of the business’ activity down to its root components. Then the causes of profit losses can be weeded out. For example, in a warehouse setting in which I worked, there were a few major departments which included receiving, stock dept., pick/pack, and shipping department. Merchandise traveled through the warehouse along this pathway. If say, production (boxes shipped) is down, we can specify the cause using this technique. Instead of just knowing that production is down, we may learn that the receiving dock is backed up , which leads to no merchandise for the stock dept., which results in orders being held up on the flows. Management can then find the cause of the backup in receiving and go from there. 2. ADEA Stands for the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which, according to text, prohibits age discrimination and mandatory retirement. It was established in 1967. It pretty much explains itself. Basically, there cannot be a maximum age for employees, and termination can not be based solely on age. A good example of this would be a mother returning to the work force. They may be frowned upon due to their age. I have read somewhere that people over the age of forty are in a protected class, and cannot be discriminated against by virtue of the law. 3. BARS This stands for Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale. It is defined as a rating technique that relates an employees performance to a specific job related incident. This definition doesn’t really help me. It seems that the procedure is to define certain personality traits that are essential for a certain function, then to rate the prospective employee based on a scale of these trait. For example, someone applying to be a chef would be hired on base on a number of traits, one being prior experience. A ten on the scale would be something like, â€Å"10+ years of experience in a 4 star restaurant†, while a zero would be â€Å"no experience†. The employees â€Å"worth† could be determined by a composite of all these scales.

Organizational Behavior Final Project

LIU MBA Students for the North Shore Animal League Organizational Behavior For the group project our group chose option A, to design and implement a community service project. We chose to help the North Shore Animal League based in Port Washington, New York. We think this is an important charity to help because the organization receives no federal funding and relies solely on donations from the public. North Shore Animal league is one of the largest no-kill shelters and they have saved close to 1 million cats, dogs, kittens and puppies to date.After our initial meeting in class we brainstormed some ideas on how to fundraise via e-mail. We decided to do a combination of things to raise money for the North Shore Animal League. First, to spread the word, we created a Facebook page to share our project with our friends, family and acquaintances. The page is also viewable to friends-of-friends so it reaches a wide scope of people. The page tells the viewer about the league and our project ; the page features pictures and a link to a fundraising website.The fundraising website was created through North Shore Animal League and gives viewers the opportunity to donate using a credit card. These donations go directly to the league and are tracked through the website. We tried talking to the campus bookstore to see if they would donate some merchandise we could then sell for the cause, but they were unable to. We decided to purchase some snacks in bulk from Costco to sell to raise money. We made the decisions to target a highly populated area with a large amount of foot traffic, in order to reach the most people.Therefore, we orchestrated a fundraising day in Flushing and Hunter’s Point where we passed out fliers, collected donations, and sold the snacks. To reach a larger scope of people, we talked with a local pet store, located in Northport, and they allowed us to set up a table and solicit donations for the league from customers go in and out of the store. We th ought this was a good location because we would likely be reaching animal lovers who would be sympathetic to our cause and therefore more likely to contribute. We also distributed fliers while at the pet store, which included the address for our undraising website so the customers could donate to the animal league when they got home. Psychological contract is defined as individual beliefs, shaped by the organization, regarding terms of an exchange agreement between individuals and their organization (Rousseau). According to the project's instructions, we have 400 points to split amongst the four group members. Our group's psychological contract is that as long as each group member attends each meeting, participates in the fundraising activities, and completes their share of the work equally, each group member will receive 100 of the 400 points.However, if someone cannot fulfill their share of the work, the other group members can deduct points from this member and add them to their own grade. The psychological contract depends on the trust between the group members. In our group we valued the promise to every member to share the work equally and did not violate our contract. Every member was able to express their opinion freely, if someone felt that a group member’s performance was lacking, they can talk openly with the other members and discuss redistributing the points.Our group's psychological contract could not be violated easily because we all wanted to share the work to ensure we got the best grade possible. Through the learning of psychological contract, we built a strong and efficient team. With an effective performance system and strong trust among our members, we reached great achievement. It is very important to figure out how you can motivate the members in a group since it will increase the productivity of the group. The four members in our group have different personalities and personal goal; therefore, the methods to motivate them are tot ally different.There is that minority which is challenged by opportunity and willing to work hard to achieve something (McClelland). For our project we all needed to be part of this minority because we had such limited time. In McClelland’s discussion of Motive A, he talks about setting â€Å"moderately difficult, but potentially achievable goals†¦ tasks to make them stretch themselves a little. † Our group decided early on to set a goal of raising $250, which we thought would be a good amount to strive for considering our time constraint.We found this amount to be difficult, but do-able. Something else McClelland discusses is how the nAch person is constantly spending their time thinking of how to do things better. Through trial and error we were able to figure out what worked for our group. For example, we had a not so successful day fundraising in Flushing, raising only $20 in about 4 hours, and were able to use this experience to find a better way to do this n ext time. The expectancy theory could be used to help outline how we made decisions on how to behave in our group.To begin, you can look at the concept of performance-outcome expectancy, which states every behavior has an associated reward or punishment. For example a group member could have chosen to sit back and let the other members perform, or could have chosen to make a genuine effort. The consequences are that we won’t receive the best grade and won’t raise the most money possible; or our group will flourish with everyone’s involvement. The concept of valence, the idea that each outcome has a specific worth to the individual was apparent as well.Luckily, we all want the some outcome, to raise the most money possible for the animal league and to be graded fairly by our peers, so this wasn’t an issue when it came to motivating our group. Lastly there is effort-performance expectancy, which states that every behavior has associated with it a certain pr obability of success. With this concept we all needed to understand that our efforts would be rewarded with donations. Once we started to receive donations we used this as motivation to get more.Ethical dilemmas are very complex for individuals, according to textbook, â€Å"the notion that its easy to be ethical assumes that individuals automatically know that they are facing ethical dilemma and that they should simply choose to do the right thing. † However, the definition of â€Å"doing right thing† may be different for different people, depending on their culture or background. In our project, we have two ethical dilemmas. First, are we going to donate the exact total amount of money we have raised to North Shore Animal League.The first spot we were collecting donations was in Flushing, where we explained our project to pedestrians and they were usually rude, impatient and less willing to listen to us. Because of this we decided to move to another spot, a park in Hu nters Point where the people were more patient. We collected 20 dollars in this spot, which is much more than we were able to collect in Flushing. We quickly saw that people in these two spots have different characteristics; the people in Hunters Point were more willing to trust us and believe that we were being ethical.The people in Hunters Point stopped and ask us about our project, and about our cause. The people in Hunters Point believed in the good side of people and were more willing to trust us and in return donate. The people who donated to us believed that every penny they were giving us was going to help the animals at North Shore Animal League, therefore, we cannot let them down and we have a responsibility to deliver all of the money we collect. The second dilemma is whether or not we should deduct the cost of the products we sold from the donations we collected.We bought Lays and Doritos for twenty cents per package and bottled water for sixty cents per bottle; we then sold the items for one dollar each. The person who bought the products could say that they should take back some money to compensate themselves for the cost of buying the items. In this case, it is a grey area. If the person does not request to get their money back, one could say they are a person who really cares about the cause they are raising money for. If they did ask to get some money back, one might say they are doing this activity just for a grade.Also, if the person who purchased the goods decided they wanted to be reimbursed, they could embellish the cost and get back more than they paid. This is similar to the activity we did in the classroom where employees were compensated for meals while out on the road. As long as the amount did not exceed eighty dollars per day, they would be reimbursed for food and they did not need to show receipts. In our case, people donated their money to us based on the idea that we will forward all of the money to the North Shore Animal League Our behavior was very important, as it dictated how others made judgments about us.As mentioned in the textbook, some factors of behavior include: tone of voice, body language, gestures and the words we say. People could be led to believe that we are a group of people doing good or committing fraud based on these factors. We found that certain things helped increase the level at which people trusted and believed we were doing good. Our image and the overall passion we conveyed were important factors to ensure other people’s trust us. People were more willing to trust us if we had an advertising board, Facebook website, and a donation website with the North Shore Animal League.Overall, we needed to appear as professional as possible to have the best results. People tend to doubt people they are not familiar with, especially in New York City; thus, we were able to gain their trust by conducting our project in a professional manner. The way we were asking people to make donatio n was also important. We needed to put our message in a way that conveyed the right meaning. It is not easy asking another person for money, people were less willing to donate if they felt they were not getting anything in return.We decided to sell something to deal with this issue, so we could make donors feel that they are donating to a worth cause while buying something. The way that we asked them was also important, if we said, â€Å"Excuse me, would you like to make a donation to support our program? † people usually walked right past us. However, if we said, â€Å"Excuse me, would you like to purchase a bottle of water or a bag of chips to support our program? † people would generally stop and listen to what we had to say. In this assignment, the ability to communicate across language barriers was key.Our group of four consisted of a male (Alex) and female (Danielle) from New York, a male from China (Yunjie), and a male from Taiwan (Wei). Alex and Danielle were u nable to speak any Chinese, and while Wei and Yunjie’s grasp of the English language was exceptional there were still times when communicating proved to be difficult. However, our group was able to continually overcome these communication barriers. For example, in situations where Wei was unable to understand certain English words, Yunjie would explain it to him in Chinese, and vice versa.Also, Alex and Danielle would try and clarify any confusing language by using the simplest English possible. By using the above-mentioned techniques our group was able to consistently overcome any language barriers and communicate effectively to achieve our goals. In addition to communicating across language barriers, our group was also faced with the challenge of communicating across cultures. This difference in cultures was most evident when the group attempted to raise funds for the North Shore Animal League by selling potato chips and water bottles in Flushing, Queens. In the U. S. selli ng lemonade on the street is almost considered a right of passage for many young children. Many American children take the idea of capitalism for granted, having been instilled with the idea of a free market economy from a young age. However, capitalism is not practiced throughout the world. Consequently, Wei and Yunjie had no prior experience selling goods to customers on the street. At first, because of their inexperience, Wei and Yunjie had a difficult time selling potato chips and water to customers. They were unable to reach out to customers and convey the fact that all of the proceeds from the sale would be going to charity.However, after being instructed on various selling techniques and following the example set by their fellow team members, Wei and Yunjie began reaching out to more and more customers. They fully embraced the fundraising concept and acquired the ability to effectively connect with customers to achieve our goals. Aside from highlighting our cultural differenc es, the fundraising experience in Queens also taught our group about the â€Å"Ladder of Inference†, as described by Rick Ross in his article The Ladder of Inference. While fundraising we noticed that many potential customers were extremely cautious about our group’s intentions.Many people did not believe that we were raising funds for the North Shore Animal League and instead thought that we would pocket the money for ourselves. People would take one look at our group and our surroundings and would automatically assume that we were â€Å"conning† them without actually taking the time to see what our true intentions were. This is an example of these potential customers climbing â€Å"The Ladder of Inference†. After we became aware of this we started to hand out fliers for the North Shore Animal League hoping that it would make our position more believable.While this did alleviate some customers concerns there were still many people who simply did not beli eve us. This was an extremely frustrating obstacle that was difficult to overcome. During a team meeting following our fundraising efforts we discussed how we could overcome this obstacle in the future. Our conclusion was that in order to establish trust with potential customers and thereby prevent them from negatively climbing â€Å"The Ladder of Inference† we must make ourselves appear more presentable and official.In the future we would dress in uniforms with nametags. In addition, we would apply for permits to fundraise on city grounds such as parks and playgrounds. It is our belief that by implementing these tactics we would gain the trust of potential customers and become more effective in our fundraising efforts. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we were unable to implement these changes, however, through this process we learned a great deal and can use this experience in our future endeavors. In our group there was not one decisive leader.We all needed to be lea ders; as we learned from our leadership discussion, leaders are generally the ones who are finding new ways to do things. We all needed to come up with ideas on how to fundraise, and needed to figure out how we could actually get it done. During our class lecture on leadership, we discussed characteristics that all great leaders appear to have. Characteristics that came up over and over again included determination, well liked, personable, persuasive, and someone who has a good support team.By working hard, and working together, we knew we would achieve the best results. As discussed in â€Å"Level 5 Leadership,† a good leader knows that the cause is bigger than them. We used this idea when fundraising; we couldn’t simply go through the motions just to get the grade. We needed to really care about the cause, as great leaders are generally passionate about what they are doing. This is why it was important for our group to visit the Animal League. We thought it would be good to see what they do first hand, and tour their facility.This was an enjoyable experience because we were able to see some of the animals that we are helping, and were able to use our visit as motivation to raise more money. Our group worked together extremely well. We kept in contact through e-mail, weekly meetings before class, and a group text message on our cell phones. Each member offered ideas on how go about the project. We freely critiqued each other’s ideas to find out what would work best for our group. We recognized each other’s strengths and weaknesses and assigned tasks for each group member accordingly. In total we raised $xxx.