The implications of downsizing to the employees, communities and families of the employees

Introduction Downsizing is a corporate practice that many employees are concerned about. This process can be described as a practice whereby firms reduce the number of employees and the scope of their business in order to achieve improved service and financial performance (Baumol, Blinder, Wolff, 2003).Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on The implications of downsizing to the employees, communities and families of the employees specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Many companies lay off their employees due to a variety of reasons that may include the following: when the service of an employee is no longer required owing to technology upgrade; an internal shift in the requirements of the organization; restructuring; a change in financial fortunes, etc. Downsizing is a common practice in the corporate world, especially in times of financial hardships. For instance, in 2007, during the global financial crisis, close t o one million employees were laid off in the United States (Bain Company, 2010). The impact of downsizing is felt hardest by the departing employees as well as their families and the community in general. This paper seeks to establish the effects of downsizing to the employees, communities and the families of the employees. The paper will also discuss the current or future applications and relevance of downsizing. Effects of Downsizing on Dismissed Employees Losing a job impacts significantly on any employee. Though the effects are mostly negative, there can be one or two positive consequences that come with losing a job. Positive effects It’s rare for anyone to benefit if he/she has been a victim of organizational job cuts. Normally, success or failure following a job dismissal will depend on an individual’s preparedness and the availability of other opportunities. All employees who lose their jobs through downsizing are often compensated, especially if the employmen t contract provides a severance pay policy (Baumol, Blinder, Wolff, 2003). There are rules and guidelines which organizations are required to abide by when downsizing.Advertising Looking for term paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More These include the provision of an early notice and the severance pay. Receiving a severance pay can be positive for some employees as it can enable them to boost their savings or fund their own business ventures (Mroczkowski Hanaoka, 1998). It’s depressing for a worker to hear that he/she will be laid off. However, this fact presents other opportunities which the employee might not have considered. Several organizations assist departing employees to secure alternative employment. Therefore, a dismissed employee may land a job that offers better pay and working conditions (Baumol, Blinder, Wolff, 2003). Negative effects As stated earlier, the negative effects of lo sing a job far outweigh the positive effects. The negative impacts can be broadly categorized into the psychological and financial effects. Most employees get shocked when learn about their sacking. Initial emotional reactions may include bitterness and anger towards the company. There are several other psychological effects that may come along the way. These effects commonly include depression, increased anxiety and subjective perceptions of incompetence (Mellahi Wilkinson, 2004). Job loss is also associated with increased incidences of suicide, risk of alcohol abuse and violent behavior (Tyler Wilkinson, 2007). Individuals who are downsized often develop negative views towards the administration and politics in general. They blame governments and the capitalistic systems of economy, and generally give pessimistic views on the economy (Cascio, 2002). Job loss almost always results into negative financial impacts on the dismissed employee. People construct their lifestyles based o n the regular income they receive (Mellahi Wilkinson, 2004). Some commit themselves to pay mortgages and other debts that are deducted on monthly basis. Losing a regular means of income can be financially devastating for an individual, especially if he/she cannot secure another job in the short term. The severance pay provided by the company might not last more than two months and therefore cannot effectively cushion a downsized employee.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on The implications of downsizing to the employees, communities and families of the employees specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In some cases, one can find himself/herself in a job that offers a lower pay and he/she is forced to change his/her lifestyle to accommodate the lower earnings. According to the data provided previously, more than 65% of people who lost their jobs through downsizing report being paid lower than what they were being pai d in their previous employment (Tyler Wilkinson, 2007). And many of them find new work in temporary or part time arrangements. Effects of Downsizing on Employee’s Families and the Community in General The impacts of downsizing are often felt beyond the dismissed person. His/her family and the larger community are subject the ripple effects of downsizing. An individual’s family may go through similar physical and psychological experiences as the downsized individual. These effects can be broadly classified as financial, social, and psychological effects. Effects of downsizing on the employee’s family The family of an individual who has lost his/her job may not be able to continue with the same lifestyle they had before. They are forced to cut their spending to accommodate themselves to the new reality. The family might be forced to forego some privileges they previously enjoyed. If the situation is not solved in the short term, the family may find it hard to mee t their basic needs. Job loss through downsizing can be socially devastating for the victim’s family. The family might be required to vacate their current home and look for a cheaper house elsewhere. Sometimes it reaches a point where one cannot pay rent or mortgage a house. For some people it may imply losing home through eviction or foreclosure. A family that finds itself in this situation may find it hard to survive. Finding a new house offers many social challenges which may include finding new friends and getting children to new unfamiliar schools. Changing schools negatively impacts children’s academic performance due to the fact that they are forced to abandon the educational setting that they are familiar with.Advertising Looking for term paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Families that have no emergency savings usually suffer the most. Basic things like food usually turn into luxuries that they can barely afford. As a result, many families address welfares associations to get money for food and other basic requirements (Tyler Wilkinson, 2007). The psychological effects are far much overwhelming as compared to the financial and social effects. Normally, the family members may go through anger, anxiety and bitterness that might accompany loss of employment. The tension that is built up due to anxiety causes a lot of friction in the family setup. Several studies have shown that loss of employment has contributed to the rise in divorce incidences (Mellahi Wilkinson, 2004). The reason for that is such families tend to quarrel and argue more. Other psychological impacts of downsizing that affect the entire family include low self-esteem, stigma, the feeling of being isolated, and depression (Cascio, 2002). The psychological effects may give rise to real health issues in the affected families. However, there are families that work through the difficulties and come out as a stronger unit. This normally depends on how the family members communicate during that period. Effects of downsizing on the community in general The economic effects of downsizing are not limited to the dismissed individuals and their families alone. Jobs usually provide â€Å"stability for individuals, their families and the communities they belong to. Salaries of the employed usually flow back to the community when they buy goods and services† (Hossfeld, Legerton, Dumas, Keuster, 2005). When mass layoffs are carried out, particularly in times of economic hardships, the effects tend to be felt throughout the community. A study carried out in Robeson County, NC, to identify the effects of loss of employment on the community, established that the loss of employment due to loss of manufacturing activity caused far reaching economic implications to the Robeso n community (Appendix 1). In times of widespread economic problems like the global financial crisis, many companies downsize to better manage their resources. When a significant number of employees lose their jobs as a result of widespread downsizings, the ripple effects are felt in the community. Other sectors, particularly the service sector, will register decreased profits as a result of reduced spending by their clients. Layoffs also increase the existing level of unemployment in the community. The unemployed members of the community usually find it hard to meet their basic needs. Studies have shown a high incidence of poor health in the unemployed. This includes disease such as diabetes, pneumonia, bronchitis, influenza, and other specific chronic illnesses (Sahdev, 2003). Children who are born in families with parents who have lost their employment are likely to have long-term educational and social problems (Mroczkowski Hanaoka, 1998). The family stress that is associated wi th the loss of employment has been identified as a major cause of behavioral problems in their children (Hossfeld, Legerton, Dumas, Keuster, 2005). Loss of work through downsizing and other causes also results into social divisions. In most cases, the less fortunate in the society are contempt to live less affluent older industrial areas. Effects of downsizing on the remaining employee’s morale Downsizing has been known to impact negatively on the morale of the remaining employees. Most employees acquire friends and mentors among people at their place of work. Such close people might be affected during a downsizing activity. The remaining employees may be affected in a number of ways that will impact his/her confidence levels, interpersonal relationships, and perception of job security (Sahdev, 2003). In today’s society, many people are spending more time with their coworkers as compared with their families. Many employees are usually heartbroken to see their coworker s sacked (Sahdev, 2003). Downsizing impacts heavily on the sense of familiarity and the support networks developed by employees (Sahdev, 2003). The trust that had existed between different sections of the company will need redevelopment. Apart from loosing key friends and colleagues, downsizing will cause fear among employees. The remaining employees may feel that they will be targeted in the next round of downsizing. Studies indicate that downsizings usually happen in waves, as the management experiments and gauges the effect. The fear that one might be targeted in the next round of downsizing affects his/her productivity. Such employees may begin to consider other options that are available to them even before they are laid off. Downsizing also affects the employee’s confidence in the employer. Most companies fire people when things are not working as expected. While the company may cease further downsizing, workers will be aware that other measures will be instituted to cu t spending. They might be subjected to pay cuts, lower allowances, and reduction of business trips among other cost cutting measures (Sahdev, 2003). This may result in a less motivated work force. Relevance of Downsizing as Measured by the Objectives Many companies usually find it necessary to reduce their work force in order to survive through hard times and achieve improved efficiency. However, studies indicate that the stated objectives of retention are rarely achieved by the organizations that indulge in the practice (Mroczkowski Hanaoka, 1998). A study conducted by Wyatt found that only a third of the 1,005 corporations included in the study, had gained from layoffs (Tyler Wilkinson, 2007). Less than a third part gained higher than what they had anticipated, while four out of five had to hire again to refill the vacant positions left after downsizing. Indeed downsizing only serves as a short term reprieve for the company. In the long term most companies are not able to show a ny gains from previous downsizing strategies. Some of the issues that affect companies after downsizing have been described above under the effects on the morale of the employees. The adverse effects associated with corporate downsizing can be partly related to the focus on the outgoing employees rather than those who remain back. Managers tend to concentrate on offering counseling, training and other support services to the laid off staff. While there is no doubt that the laid off staff need such services, it should not be done at the expense of the remaining employees, who are equally affected (Baumol, Blinder, Wolff, 2003). The effects of downsizing on the morale of the remaining employees have been discussed earlier in this paper. Companies that carry out downsizing should rethink the strategy because it is least likely to improve efficiency (Tyler Wilkinson, 2007). The practice only results into great psychological and physical suffering of the affected employees and their fa milies. Thus, firms should develop other strategies of dealing with short term financial problems rather than indulge downsizing activities. Many studies have shown that sacking is a practice that is negatively viewed both from inside and outside the organizations (Cascio, 2002). Conclusion This paper sought to establish the effects of downsizing on the employees, communities, and the families of the employees. The paper also aimed to discuss the current or future applications and relevance of downsizing. It has been established that downsizing impacts negatively on dismissed employees, their families, and the community in general. The effects are mainly economic, social, and psychological. The practice also negatively impacts on the remaining workforce and the reputation of the organization that indulges it. According to the findings of many research studies, downsizing is not that relevant as it does not serve the intended purpose in most cases and only creates a lot of suffering for the dismissed employees and their families. The practice has contributed to a significant level of rebellion against capitalism in several areas of the world (Mellahi Wilkinson, 2004). Downsizing should only be carried out in justifiable circumstances such as technology upgrade or major change in company’s operations. References Bain Company. (2010). Downsizing. Retrieved from Management Tools: https://www.bain.com/insights/management-tools-2011-downsizing Baumol, W., Blinder, A., Wolff, E. N. (2003). Downsizin in America:Reality, Causes  and Consequences. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Cascio, F. W. (2002). Strategies for responsible restructuring. Academy of Management  Executive , 16(1): 80-91. Hossfeld, L., Legerton, M., Dumas, C., Keuster, G. (2005). The Economic and Social  Impact of Job Loss In Robeson County North Carolina 1993-2003. Lumberton:Center for Community Action. Mellahi, K., Wilkinson, A. (2004). Downsizing and Innovation Output: A Review of  literature and Research Propositions. London: British Academy of Management. Mroczkowski, T., Hanaoka, M. (1998). Effective downsizing strategies in Japan and America: Is there a convergence of employment practices? Academy of  Management Review , 22(1): 226-56. Sahdev, K. (2003). ‘Survivors’ reactions to downsizing. Human Resource Management  Journal , 13(4): 56–74. Tyler, M., Wilkinson, A. (2007). The Tyranny of Corporate Slenderness.  Understanding Organizations Anorexically, Work, Employment and Society , 21: 537-549. Appendix Appendix 1: Impact of loss of employment in Robeson County This term paper on The implications of downsizing to the employees, communities and families of the employees was written and submitted by user Adam D. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Media The Power to Make or Break a Nation essays

Media The Power to Make or Break a Nation essays "Communication remains God's great gift to humanity without which we cannot be truly human, reflecting God's image." (Ca "Monkey see, monkey do" has become a well-known saying in today's society. In addition, this is how media influences society as it leaves a large impact on the individuals. Media has been considered by Ciony C. Gonzales as "...the most dominant art form...." (1984, 9) as it has an innate power to engage and affect the total person. It leaves a compelling and lasting impact on both the conscious and subconscious (Gonzales, 1984, 9). Though media informs and educates, it also corrupts and exploits, leading it to contribute to the moral degradation of society. Media's role in society is to inform, educate, and entertain. It tells the truth and provides positive stimulation that can build up images and reputations the right way (Grantoza, 1993, 31). It can also be a tribunal of justice (Reuter, 1993, n.p.). Therefore, media has contributed greatly in ways that both enlighten and enrich society, but in other ways have deteriorated and perplexed it. It is not a surprise to learn, then, that media is the most powerful source of information, and nothing else in today's world influences public perce...

Example of a Permutation Test

Example of a Permutation Test One question that it is always important to ask in statistics is, â€Å"Is the observed result due to chance alone, or is it statistically significant?† One class of hypothesis tests, called permutation tests, allow us to test this question. The overview and steps of such a test are: We split our subjects into a control and an experimental group.  The null hypothesis is that there is no difference between these two groups.Apply a treatment to the experimental group.Measure the response to the treatmentConsider every possible configuration of the experimental group and the observed response.Calculate a p-value based upon our observed response relative to all of the potential experimental groups. This is an outline of a permutation.  To flesh of this outline, we will spend time looking at a worked out example of such a permutation test in great detail. Example Suppose we are studying mice.  In particular, we are interested in how quickly the mice finish a maze that they have never encountered before.  We wish to provide evidence in favor of an experimental treatment.  The goal is to demonstrate that mice in the treatment group will solve the maze more quickly than untreated mice.   We begin with our subjects: six mice.  For convenience, the mice will be referred to by the letters A, B, C, D, E, F. Three of these mice are to be randomly selected for the experimental treatment, and the other three are put into a control group in which the subjects receive a placebo. We will next randomly choose the order in which the mice are selected to run the maze. The time spent finishing the maze for all of the mice will be noted, and a mean of each group will be computed. Suppose that our random selection has mice A, C, and E in the experimental group, with the other mice in the placebo control group. After the treatment has been implemented, we randomly choose the order for the mice to run through the maze.   The run times for each of the mice are: Mouse A runs the race in 10 secondsMouse B runs the race in 12 secondsMouse C runs the race in 9 secondsMouse D runs the race in 11 secondsMouse E runs the race in 11 secondsMouse F runs the race in 13 seconds. The average time to complete the maze for the mice in the experimental group is 10 seconds. The average time to complete the maze for those in the control group is 12 seconds. We could ask a couple of questions. Is the treatment really the reason for the faster average time? Or were we just lucky in our selection of control and experimental group?  The treatment may have had no effect and we randomly chose the slower mice to receive the placebo and faster mice to receive the treatment.  A permutation test will help to answer these questions. Hypotheses The hypotheses for our permutation test are: The null hypothesis is the statement of no effect.  For this specific test, we have H0: There is no difference between treatment groups.  The mean time to run the maze for all mice with no treatment is the same as the mean time for all mice with the treatment.The alternative hypothesis is what we are trying to establish evidence in favor of. In this case, we would have Ha: The mean time for all mice with the treatment will be faster than the mean time for all mice without the treatment. Permutations There are six mice, and there are three places in the experimental group. This means that the number of possible experimental groups are given by the number of combinations C(6,3) 6!/(3!3!) 20. The remaining individuals would be part of the control group. So there are 20 different ways to randomly choose individuals into our two groups. The assignment of A, C, and E to the experimental group was done randomly.  Since there are 20 such configurations, the specific one with A, C, and E in the experimental group has a probability of 1/20 5% of occurring. We need to determine all 20 configurations of the experimental group of the individuals in our study. Experimental group: A B C and Control group: D E FExperimental group: A B D and Control group: C E FExperimental group: A B E and Control group: C D FExperimental group: A B F and Control group: C D EExperimental group: A C D and Control group: B E FExperimental group: A C E and Control group: B D FExperimental group: A C F and Control group: B D EExperimental group: A D E and Control group: B C FExperimental group: A D F and Control group: B C EExperimental group: A E F and Control group: B C DExperimental group: B C D and Control group: A E FExperimental group: B C E and Control group: A D FExperimental group: B C F and Control group: A D EExperimental group: B D E and Control group: A C FExperimental group: B D F and Control group: A C EExperimental group: B E F and Control group: A C DExperimental group: C D E and Control group: A B FExperimental group: C D F and Control group: A B EExperimental group: C E F and Control group: A B DExperimental group: D E F and Control group: A B C We then look at each configuration of experimental and control groups. We calculate the mean for each of the 20 permutations in the listing above.  For example, for the first, A, B and C have times of 10, 12 and 9, respectively.  The mean of these three numbers is 10.3333.  Also in this first permutation, D, E and F have times of 11, 11 and 13, respectively.  This has an average of 11.6666. After calculating the mean of each group, we calculate the difference between these means. Each of the following corresponds to the difference between the experimental and control groups that were listed above. Placebo - Treatment   1.333333333 secondsPlacebo - Treatment   0 secondsPlacebo - Treatment   0 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -1.333333333 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 2 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 2 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment   0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -2 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -2 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 1.333333333 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 0 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 0 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -1.333333333 seconds P-Value Now we rank the differences between the means from each group that we noted above. We also tabulate the percentage of our 20 different configurations that are represented by each difference in means. For example, four of the 20 had no difference between the means of the control and treatment groups. This accounts for 20% of the 20 configurations noted above. -2 for 10%-1.33 for 10 %-0.667 for 20%0 for 20 %0.667 for 20%1.33 for 10%2 for 10%. Here we compare this listing to our observed result. Our random selection of mice for the treatment and control groups resulted in an average difference of 2 seconds. We also see that this difference corresponds to 10% of all possible samples.  The result is that for this study we have a p-value of 10%.

HIV drug treatment in South Africa Literature review

HIV drug treatment in South Africa - Literature review Example It also highlights the side effects of these drugs and mention ways of making the HIV drug treatment as safe as possible. HIV is an important health concern as about a million of people are infected annually by this pandemic. Africa is disproportionately bearing the weight of HIV/AIDS epidemic. The population of Africa forms 11 percent of the world’s total population and about 67 percent of the people infected by HIV are living in Africa. About 22.4 million population of Africa is infected by HIV virus and about 1.9 million new HIV cases were reported in the year 2008. About 10 million African children lost their parent because of HIV, in the last year. The countries located in the north of Africa have the lower prevalence HIV rate. However according to statistics South Africa is the worst HIV affected part of this continent. About 10 percent of the population of Zambia, Swaziland, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana and Zimbabwe, is affected by HIV virus. In the sub- Saharan part of Africa the HIV patients acquire half of the beds present at any hospitals. Health care professionals have been highly affected by this pandemic. In the years 1990-2005 about 17 percent of the health work force was lost because of this killer virus. In response to this major health risk a number of initiatives have been taken to educate the population of Africa, in order to reduce the potential risk of HIV. In 2013, a special report was issued by UNAINDS. According to this report the number of people receiving anti-retroviral treatment in the current year is seven times more than the patient receiving treatment five years back. Education is the main source by the help of which develop Africa fight against HIV/AIDS. There are several institutions that offer training to the individuals to eliminate the misconception about HIV this help them to make informed decision related to their health. There are several programs being offered in Africa one of which is â€Å"sensitization

Dada Movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dada Movement - Essay Example Political affiliations played a conclusive and directive role in the art movements of the times. It was held to be an inviolable rule that the art aught to spring out from the human desperation for assigning some black and white meaning to life and must hence be meaningful and conventional. Elaborate philosophies were built around art movements and art evolved into a highly institutionalized form of self expression. Bourgeois ideas of taste and decorum dominated the art world and artists used to work with a coveting eye on the market value of their art. There was set a standard of beauty and taste and the art was strictly expected to cater to such calibrated specifications. The artistic urge for experimentation had been diluted and subdued over the years and the art was turning out to be a very predictable and complacent aspect of life. Then we had the World War I that mercilessly exposed the sense of waste and nihilism embedded deep in the Western consciousness. The unrestrained violence and mayhem that embodied the spirits of the times gave way to a sense of disillusionment with the established standards of meaning and value. The sacrosanct and well entrenched ideas about ethics and norms simply crumpled before the carnage let loose by the till now invisible human affiliation with violence and rage. The cardinal quest for imbuing life with some sort of meaning and purpose, now seemed to be irrelevant and unrealistically ambitious and arrogant. The set standards of beauty and good taste turned out to be a superficial and artificial faade that simply faded away before the corrosive impact of times and underneath it emerged a scenario dominated by frustration, disappointment and a pathetic loss of hope. I believe that this moment in the European history represented a unique aspect of human consciousness that was the hallmark of those times. Such a frustrated state of human psyche desperately yearned for some sort of artistic expression and release and Dada movement symbolized the human endeavor to give some discernable form to this human obsession with waste and confusion My main objective behind writing this paper is to somehow analyze the genesis and relevance of Dada movement with the local and international communication communities. The world today is as much in danger of being gagged and benumbed by a sense of stagnation and inertia as it was in the times that led to the flowering of Dada movement. Such a crisis gives way to a plethora of queries pertaining to Dada movement. Was Dada movement just a fluke unleashed by the circumstantial desperation or was it a phenomenon built around authentic and desirable aspirations Does Dada movement have any meaning and relevance for the contemporary art lovers Above all, will Dada art succeed in soliciting the reverence and attention from the contemporary connoisseurs or will it unceremoniously succumb to a looming apathy and aversion, which was its fate in the days of the yore. It is said that history repeats itself and much to my surprise, I have discovered that that the contemporary

Performance Evaluation Task Essay Example for Free

Performance Evaluation Task Essay All employees want a fair and accurate performance evaluation. It’s it important that an evaluation reflect each employee’s job duties and how well they have performed. In this scenario, the engineer’s first performance review ended with him being angry over the way in which he was being evaluated. There were three main issues with the engineer’s evaluation. The engineer felt that no one in the company, including the plant manager was qualified to complete his annual review. He felt this way because he is the only trained engineer in the company. As a result, the engineer had little confidence in the way that he was being evaluated and was upset that most of his review was based on relationships with other co-workers and his own personal characteristics. For the second annual review the plant manager is exploring other options when it comes to evaluating the engineer. The three most commonly-used sets of evaluation criteria which should be used in evaluations are individual task outcomes, behaviors, and traits. In this scenario, the engineer could be judged on what he was able to accomplish. For example, the changes that the engineer suggested resulted in considerable savings on manufacturing energy cost and eliminated a significant safety hazard that had been previously overlooked. Behavior refers to not only how the employee works with others but also organizational performance, promptness, and suggestions for improvements. In the scenario, the engineer clashes with other employees and has a poor attitude towards co-workers. However, the engineer’s suggestions have led to positive changes with the company. Traits are referring to the engineer’s attitude, showing confidence, and being dependable. In this scenario, the engineer demonstrates a poor attitude towards co-workers and does not pay close attention when the manager is speaking. When you compare the most commonly used sets of criteria of claim evaluation the manager needs to determine the importance or weight of each category. Is what the employee achieved as important as how the tasks were done or that they got along with the other members of the team? What the engineer achieved is something that can be measured though the completion of tasks.  Behaviors and traits can be more subjective. It could be the engineer’s personality to be standoffish or he doesn’t socialize well with others. This doesn’t necessarily mean the engineer is not a successful employee. In the annual review, the manager should consider the outcome of his tasks as the highest priority. Behaviors should be the next factor, and finally traits. In an effort to get more buy in of the performance evaluation process, the plant manager can include the opinions of supervisors, peers, and subordinates. This is an example of a full 360-degree program. There are advantages and disadvantages to this process. The advantages include the hope to give everyone more of a sense of participation in the review process and gain more accurate readings on employee performance. The use of multiple sources is more likely to capture a variety of behavior more accurately. It also provides employees with a wider perspective of their performance. Some of the disadvantages of the 360 degree evaluation are that it has the potential to be misused. Some corporations allow employees to choose the people who evaluate them which can provide some inaccurate feedback. There can also be issues in handling disagreements and contradictions between those who complete the evaluations. (E-textbook) The plant manager will also need to consider how the engineer would be evaluated. There are several options when considering how to evaluate an employee. The first method that can be considered is a written essay. This is a written narrative describing an employee’s strengths, weaknesses, potential, performance, and suggestions for improvement. The success of this method can be determined as much by the evaluator’s writing ability as by the employee’s level of performance. Another method of evaluation is critical incidents. In this type of evaluation, the evaluator focuses on the behaviors that make the difference between performing a job effectively or ineffectively. It provides an example of what behaviors are wanted and those that are opportunity areas. The third and one of the most popular methods of evaluation is the use of graphic rating scales. In this evaluation method, a set of performance factors such has quality of work; cooperation, attendance, and initiative are noted. The evaluator rates each of the factors on incremental scales. One of the advantages to this method is that  they are less time consuming to complete. They also provide for easy analysis. However, evaluation methods can be biased and have as much to do with the evaluator as with the employee being evaluated. For example, the evaluator unintentionally can inflate an evaluation or even undervalue the evaluation. The evaluator can also be influenced by the assessment of one characteristic. Some evaluations can be biased by the evaluator favoring employees who have similar qualities to their own. Or in some cases, the evaluator can see the process as an opportunity to reward or punish employees. While the evaluation process at times is not perfect there are ways that it can be improved. In the scenario, the engineer feels that no one is qualified to complete his evaluation including the plant manager. He has little confidence in the evaluation process and that the rating themselves focus on personal characteristics and relationships with co-workers. One way to improve the evaluation process is to train evaluators. If no one is qualified then the company needs to make a qualified evaluator. Training someone to be an evaluator can make for more accurate ratings of an employee. This can help to build confidence that the evaluations are accurate and fair. Another alternative is to use multiple evaluators such as in the 360-degree method. This provides an opportunity to achieve more accurate evaluations. The evaluators can review different areas of job performance such as evaluating suggestions for improvements and personal characteristics. A third option is to evaluate selectively. In the scenario, the evaluation would only be done by someone who has some expertise in the area in which they are evaluating. This again can help the engineer have confidence in the evaluations that are being completed. In conclusion, the engineer wants a fair and accurate evaluation. He wants to have confidence in the people who are completing that evaluation and that he is being evaluated on criteria such as improvements to company and how timely and effectively his tasks are completed.

Quentins Struggle in The Sound and the Fury Essay -- Sound and the Fu

Quentin's Struggle in The Sound and the Fury      Ã‚  Ã‚   Too much happens...Man performs, engenders so much more than he can or should have to bear.   That's how he finds that he can bear anything.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   William Faulkner (Fitzhenry   12) In Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, we are given a character known as Quentin, one who helps us more fully understand the words of the author when delivering his Nobel Prize acceptance speech "The young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself" (The Faulkner Reader   3).   Quentin engenders so much more than he can or should have to bear, as the opening quote by Faulkner suggests is the fate of all humans, but he does not discover he can bear anything.   Instead, Quentin's heart is so in conflict with itself, a condition Faulkner argues many overlook in his speech excerpt above, that he commits suicide.    There are three kinds of struggles in life.   There is man versus the universe, man versus man, and man versus himself.   Quentin's conflict is with himself.   In fact, despite his imagining otherwise, Quentin is completely locked within himself, unable to cope with external reality.   Internal reality is the only reality which he entertains.   Like Hamlet, he tries to live up to the internalized idealized image of nature and himself that he imagines should be external reality.   As noted in Thompson and Vickery (224) "Psychologically unbalanced by his own inner and outer conflicts, Quentin is represented as being partly responsible not only for what has happened to himself but also for what has happened to some other members of his family.   He has permitted his warped and warping ego to invert exactly those basic and primit... ...   87)    Thus, we can see that Quentin's internal fictions of what he would like reality to be are too much for him to endure in the face of existential realities that are all too often not aesthetic.   He cannot endure because he cannot bear the distance between his internal fictions of reality and reality as it truly exists outside those fictions.    WORKS   CITED The Faulkner Reader:   Selections from the Works of William Faulkner.   New York, Random House, 1954. Faulkner, W.   The Sound and the Fury.   New York, Random House, 1956. Fitzhenry, R. I. (ed.).   The Barnes & Noble Book of Quotations.   New York, Barnes & Noble Books, 1987. Hoffman, F. J. and Vickery, O. W.   William Faulkner:   Three Decades of Criticism.   New York, Harbinger, 1960. Polk, N.   New Essays On:   The Sound and the Fury.   Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993.  

Creating a Positive Classroom Environment

Creating a Positive Classroom Environment A classroom should be one of inquiry and open-mindedness. In order to foster a classroom of students who feel comfortable asking questions and are open to other students’ ideas it is imperative to create a positive, safe environment and learning community. I believe that students should feel like their classroom has high expectations, in how everyone treated each other, and in how learning took place. Creating a classroom environment where all students feel emotionally and physically safe enough to take risks is a real challenge and one that is worthy of the time it requires. The key to an inquiry-based curriculum is a safe, positive learning environment, therefore, it is foundational that the teacher work to provide, establish, and maintain that throughout the year. In the classroom, the teacher should be working on ways to develop a positive learning community by finding out more about my students. For example, each student should fill out a Who Am I questionnaire so that the teacher can get to know their student's personalities, hobbies, likes and dislikes and therefore include them in lectures, discussions and explanations through out the year. The teacher should also engage in differentiated instruction in my classroom so that he/she can tailor specific lessons to fit different viewpoints, and abilities of students. This is also a demonstration of care and respect for students as they see their teacher notice certain aspects about their learning or personalities and tailors their instruction to meet their needs. One of the ways I would engage in differentiated instruction is by walking around the room and constantly being available to assist students. By offering them one-on-one assistance I can better gauge where their personal understanding and misconceptions are and tailor my teaching to them differently than I would to the class as a whole. In order to maintain a positive classroom environment, a teacher must use the ability to make quick decisions and to be flexible in the classroom. The teacher needs to make decisions and adjustments to enhance the student motivation, engagement, and productive work. One way I would make adjustments when there are issues in the classroom hindering the productive learning community is to create a new seating chart. I find that this act is often used enough to nip any potential social problems in the bud and sends a message to students that if they want to sit with their friends, they need to earn the privilege. You would be surprised with how a new seating chart for the class can increase productivity and engagement in core subject content instead of social life information. In a science classroom, experiments and lab work are an important way for students to engage in the content. All students in the class should work on labs at the same time with minimal supervision. The teacher must also be cognizant of how the resources of time, space, activities and attention are allocated to students throughout the short hour that they are in class. However, there are more traditional strategy for lab work. The difference comes in how many materials you have for certain labs, how much time it takes for each group of students to complete the experiment, and how tricky the directions are. Deciding which method to employ for a given lab and analyzing the classroom environment to decide which will work best in a given situation. In the Collier County School District it is acceptable to have up to 30 students in each classroom. It is difficult in this type of environment for students to feel that they are an important member of the learning community. I found that it was easy for certain students to disengage from activities and it was hard for the teacher to pick up on their lack of involvement because of the sheer number of other students in the room. Therefore, I thought up of an activity that would give the teacher time to walk around to individual students and check their understanding of the material. This lesson was an ACT preparation lesson where the students would be working on writing organized essays by finding a thesis statement, supporting it and including evidence from newspaper articles. I found that students would initially be hesitant to show their work to the teacher, but when they saw that the teacher would be going around to everyone at their table they became less nervous and more open to share their problems with understanding. When observing a classroom, one student even remarked as the teacher came to her, â€Å"I don’t know what I’m doing. She was a student that has never raised her hand to ask for help, but with the teachers inevitable arrival she was open to telling her teacher she did not understand. This showed me that if the teacher had not gone around to individual students she would not have told her teacher she did not understand. In order for a classroom to become a learning community it is important that it is organized, and meets clear standards of conduct. An environment in which students are assuming responsibility, participating in ecision-making, working collaboratively and independently, and engaging in purposeful learning activities that use higher order thinking skills and are all pieces of smoothly functioning learning communities. The first lesson that I would present to the class in the fall would be attempting to engage students in a purposeful learning activity that asked them to think deeply about the issues of a the subject that they are in class for. The students would first work together as a class and then the students work individually to show understanding. They were active members of the activity so they had a hand in the decision-making and therefore could assume some ownership and responsibility for the success of the activity. A strategy for engaging students in purposeful activities that promote higher order thinking that is often used in classrooms is asking students to work in pairs to create a concept map from a list of content words. By working in pairs students are collaboratively building understanding and taking responsibility for their own learning plus their partner’s. As mentioned above, in order to have a smoothly functioning learning environment, clear standards of conduct must be established and enforced within the classroom. In order for students to feel safe enough to ask questions, engage in inquiry activities and take risks in their learning. They must feel secure and know that their teacher has clear standards of conduct that will be enforced. The first day of school is a very important day for establishing the standards of conduct that all students are expected to follow. It is also important that student behavior is monitored in a preventative way. One way is by asking a student who is very high-energy and can become disruptive to do small tasks during the hour to keep him engaged, such as feeding the class fish, or putting up the class grade sheet. This particular student can be disruptive and cause problems with other classmates, but with the teacher keeping him engaged when she sees him getting off-task, she is signaling to him that she notices him and has her eyes on his actions. This has been a successful strategy in keeping him out of trouble. However, all issues in a classroom cannot be prevented. Things do sometimes happen despite the best efforts of the teacher to create a safe learning environment. For example, say that you, the teacher had an incident in your classroom where two female students got very angry with each other and yelled loudly and violently at each other and refused to stop. This behavior is very upsetting to the teacher and to the class. And to be successful in resolving the situation, you just have to remove the two students from the class and separate them. In this situation it was important to thoroughly pick up the pieces after the incident was over. This is a very helpful way for a teachers peace of mind and further ability to create a safe learning environment. The teacher should also have individual talks with the students that created the problem. One student in particular would most likely have a very changed attitude about the class after the incident. In order to bring her back to being her enthusiastic self, the teacher should have a one-on-one talk with her, which greatly improved her attitude towards the class. One of the things that would help you to act appropriately when the incident happened in the classroom was the established standards of conduct and consequences that occur if students do not follow the standards. One way to foster students’ ability to engage in dialogue and argumentation and develop the language of thinking is to participate in Socratic seminars in class. Socratic seminars offer a tangible, engaging way for students to develop both ethics and critical thinking, actively and cooperatively. A discussion technique that I would use in my classroom would be an ethical discussion based on the merits and problems with new genetic testing that is available. Students engaged in small groups, then in the large session to discuss their opinions about genetic testing, based on a text they had all read. In order to help the discussion remain civil and productive, I used an ethical discussion framework that was very helpful. In a large classroom of 30 students it is often difficult to make time to meet with students individually to discuss their progress, but it is an important part of teaching that time must be allocated for. Therefore, a lesson plan that can allow the teacher to talk with students individually about an essay they had written. Lets just say that while students were in the Library Center working on ACT preparation tests the teacher then would be able to make time to talk with students individually about the strengths and weaknesses of their essays and what specific things to keep in mind when writing their next essay. This lesson shows a good allocation of time and attention so that students could take away concrete information from the lesson about what they need to work on with their writing and they also saw that their teacher cared about their progress enough to plan a special meeting with them. This one-on-one discussion time between teacher and student is something I do not see a lot of in school and I feel it is very important to include meaningful time talking with each student. In a science classroom it is very important that resources be used appropriately to help promote in-depth, inquiry-based understandings of content. I include it here to demonstrate how helpful it is for teachers to keep up-to-date on literature that is being written on the topics they are teaching. Through reading academic literature they can gain new ideas and insights on how to use technology effectively in their classroom in order to enhance learning and the classroom environment. Creating a positive classroom environment is a very important aspect of effective teaching. In a teachers student teaching placement it has been a priority for to establish and maintain a safe and positive environment where all students can grow, inquire, and learn. I feel strongly that a classroom should always be a safe one for students physically. At times there are going to be things said between students that cannot make it emotionally safe, but you, the teacher can always deal with the issues to send a strong message that your classroom is not a place to come down on peers. I do feel I have more to learn about enacting a true inquiry-based classroom, however. And I know that there are going to be times and lessons where I believe students should be actively involved in inquiry-based projects and if so, I would be very proud of them for their efforts. However, I would like to increase the times that this occurs and make my classroom into a place where students know they are going to question, explore and learn, and not just another stop on their school day schedule.

Technological Influences: Good or Bad?

Technological Influences: Good or Bad? Our generation has been fortunate enough to have the privilege of growing up in the 21st century and using technology in our everyday lives. Previous generations were not as fortunate as us; they did not get to have the technology lifestyle as we do. Our digital access offers our generation technological advances that can either be harming our future or benefitting it. Technology has affected many teenagers and their families. The Growing Up Online goes into depth about the pressures and benefits with the internet and technology. In the video, many teens admit the technological advances are becoming a little too out of control. A child named Ryan Halligan committed suicide because of all the online threats and cyber bullying he was receiving. His father had no idea about the severity of these letters his son was receiving because they were all read by Ryan in the privacy of his own room. The anonymous messages were only possible through the use of this technology. Ryan’s ability to keep his online life private and away from his parent’s eyes is also a result of the digital technology. People are starting to express their feelings online, and not to other peoples’ faces. The cyber bully who was sending Ryan these horrible messages, would not confront Ryan at school, he would only harass him online. Technology is starting to create a world of people who are becoming less social. This is just one example of how the online world can create horrible worlds for the people who use it. Greg Burta is a teenager who was always isolated in the privacy of his room with his eyes locked in hard on the computer. He would play video games constantly or use the computer to â€Å"read† novels in five minutes. He would rarely leave his room and grew very impatient toward his family. This got to be so bad that his parents would text or email him, while in the same house, because it was the best way to get ahold of him. His grades were slipping and his relationship with his family began to plunge. Greg was not a special exception either; many kids today are doing the exact same thing, if not worse. They become so locked up in their rooms that they don’t know how to have fun any differently.. The use of computers, phones, and TVs is becoming an obsessive â€Å"hobby† that is starting to make people less social, and overweight. Their need to be constantly connected with their phones or on computers scares me for our future. The video Digital Nation gives more examples about the side effects of the internet. It shows one study about how technology can truly lead to death. In South Korea, there are miniature cafes called â€Å"PC Bongs,† people go to these cafes and become addicted to playing video games. Young men stay in these cafes for hours, and even days at a time, only playing video games. This is an addiction that can be very dangerous, and it has even led to death. These boys can get so engrossed in their gaming that they fail to eat or drink, and can play to the true point of physical exhaustion, and even death. Sitting on a couch for hours and even days is not beneficial for people’s health, and even their eyes. People need to be active and more social during the day instead of wasting time playing these games. The online world had a good impact of a girl named Amber. She used pages like Myspace and Facebook to feel important and pretty to people. When she wasn’t on these sites, she felt unimportant and useless. Amber would take explicit and questionable pictures of her self posing inappropriately and post them on Facebook and Myspace. When she would receive positive comments about the pictures, it would comfort her and make her feel beautiful. Her parents were completely blindsided when the principal relayed this onto them. He said that parents, students, and teachers had seen explicit pictures of their daughter and that it was completely unethical and inappropriate. They had no idea that Amber was doing any of this because when she used the computer, she was in her own safe haven of her bedroom. For Amber, the online world was a good way to express herself and her feelings. Most teens that do what Amber did become so caught up with their other online side that they can sometimes forget who they really are. The internet is a very good way for people to stay in touch with each other. In present times, people are video chatting, e-mailing, and instant messaging from all over the world. I went to Spain over the summer to stay with family, and emailing or using video chat made it so easy for my family and friends to connect with each other. The internet is also a good way to catch up on the latest information and news. This feature benefitted me and many others greatly. Every day the latest headlines from the news hits the internet faster than it goes onto paper. Many people rely on the internet for news about the stock market, foreign affairs, local news, and our country’s news. It has become very popular and almost a necessity in our country. Technological advances do have positive and negative side effects on our generation. Teens do too wrapped up in the technology that we have today. The boy that cyber bullied Ryan online, sending him vulgar messages, took advantage of the internet and used it to harm Ryan, but to feel better about himself. This could easily have been avoided if he was educated about the harmful effects of the online world. Greg played video games and used the computer to get summaries about books he didn’t want to read. He should have time limits for the uses of technological machines so he doesn’t get too carried away. Amber created a place where she felt comfortable by making an online persona. This site she had helped her gain confidence by all of the positive comments people left, even though she exploited herself. Without the news of current event, it would be hard to keep up on what is happening in the world. The technological advances that we have today give us a tremendous amount of knowledge and lessons that we can use our everyday life. Teens learn not to cyber bully because they know the possible outcomes. Some learn to understand that they need limits on machines, and some learn between right and wrong. People use the technological advances for everything these days, and now that they have been introduced, not very many people would even consider going without.

Impact of marketing communications on customers’ attitudes and behaviour. The WritePass Journal

Impact of marketing communications on customers’ attitudes and behaviour. Introduction Impact of marketing communications on customers’ attitudes and behaviour. Introduction The aim of this essay is to explain how marketing communications can be used to change customers’ attitudes and influence customers’ behaviour. Marketing communications play a significant role in changing customers’ attitudes because customers have different attitudes and it could be positive or negative attitudes. Attitudes are erudite from past experiences which may relate to the product itself, brand and purchasing decision. According to Hughes and Fill (2007) â€Å"attitudes are defined as the expression of an individual’s feeling towards a product, service or organisation†. Customers’ attitudes could not be observed directly but it can be detected by using market research methods. There are three main components of attitudes which are cognitive (learn) that is; what target audience know about the product or service, affective (feel) is what they feel about the product or service and conative (do) is about the action taken based on their knowledge and feelings. This essay will cover information processing models, attitudes formation and change, and customers’ response behaviour. There are different models that could be used to communicate to both customers and potential customers. These models are AIDA principle (Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action) (Blythe 2006), McGuire’s information processing models (Shimp 1997), AILA models and hierarchy of effects model are used by organisations to communicate messages to the customers or potential buyers (Blythe 2006). The AIDA model lacks in the retention ability of the consumers, also quite simplistic. This will allow the author to focus on McGuire’s information processing model which emphasis on the retention, which is very important in a communication campaign. Shimp (1997:118) identify the stages of McGuire’s information Processing model which are; Exposure to information, Selective attention, comprehension of attended information, agreement with comprehended information, retention in memory of accepted information, retrieval of information from memory, consumer decision making from alternatives and action taking on the basis of decision. These points will be discussed below. However, the first stage is to expose the information to consumers, that is; consumers should be aware of the messages being delivered. â€Å"Exposure means that customers come in contact with the marketer’s message (they see a magazine ad, hear a radio commercial, and so on)† (Shimp, 1997 p.118). Thus, this stage is a crucial stage because it is necessary for consumers to be aware of the messages but it does not guarantee communication success in the sense that the message might not have any impact on consumers. The next stage is selective attention. Consumers attend to a message being aware of and reflect on a message. However, attention is extremely selective because not all the messages being exposed to would consumers pay attention to; consumers could only pay attention to the advertisement that is relevant to them. Therefore â€Å"selective attention occurs as a result of limited mental ability to process information; ego-defence; the personal relevance of the information to which the individual is exposed; and limited motivation to process† (Kitchen, 1999 p.161). Moreover, consumer needs to comprehend what is attended to. This means that, the message which has been attended to must be clearly understood by consumers that is, consumers should be able to understand and interpret the message. Therefore marketing communicators have to ensure they comprehend customer interpretations and their messages reflect them. However, having comprehended the message, consumers need to agree with what they have understood in the message. Though, this does not guarantee that the message will change consumers’ attitudes or influence their actions, the agreement could only state whether the message is reliable or not with the values that are essential to consumers. Furthermore, the next stage of information processing is message retention, search and retrieval. This involves consumers’ ability to retain and recall the message and how customers could access and retrieve information/message when making buying decision. However, marketing communicators need to ensure that the messages enter customers’ long term memory by highlighting the benefits, and where messages can be retrieved to influence future decision†¦ (Kitchen, 1999). The next stage is for customers to decide among alternatives that is, which product or brand to purchase. However, at this point it is not always easy for customers to decide on what brand or product to purchase because consumers might have stored different information in term of facts, beliefs, and benefits and so on in their long term memory about each product or brand. It is possible for consumers to recall from his or her memory attitude toward relevant alternatives and pick the one that affect individual positively. However, Shimp (1997) stated that when making choices under nondominant situations, consumers must give something up in order to get something else. That is, high involvement decision making most always requires that trade-off be made. The last stage in information processing is for consumers to act on the basis of the decision. For consumers to act positively toward the brand or product, marketing communicators must make use of communication tools especially sales promotion such as BOGOF-buy one get one free, discounts and so on. Moreover all marketing communication tools must be coordinated and integrated in order to get consumers act fast. Thus, having gone through information processing model, the author believes that this information processing could form consumers’ attitudes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã ‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ 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 Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dibb et al (1997) also defined attitude as an individual’s enduring evaluation, feelings and behavioural tendencies towards an object or activity. Blythe (2006) states attitudes can be formed by translating customer’s needs into motivation to process information, and consequent exposure to stimulus and the processing of this information leads to cognitive responses and affective responses which may lead to conation, or intended behaviour of a customer. This means that customers learn about a product, they feel and take either positive or negative action based on what they’ve learnt. Cognitive, affective and conative are the three main components of attitude identified by Fill (2009). These three components tend to be consistent that is, a change in one attitude component tends to create related changes in other components (Botha et al, 2004). Cognitive component is about customers understanding or knowledge about a product, brand or service. Customers and potential customers tend to learn more about the products they intend to buy. For example, when a customer lack information or misunderstand a brand or product attribute, marketing communication must play a significant role by providing right or up to date information about the product or service and this will facilitate customers to learn and allow them to see the clear picture (truth) of the product, information should be rational that is, it must be based on facts. However, â€Å"it is important that the level and quality of the information provided is appropriate to the intellectual capabilities of the target audience† (Fill, 2009:153). In order for customers to learn more about a product or brand, marketing communication tools must be adopted such as advertising or public relations. These will create awareness, give full information about the product and infl uence the way customers see a product. Although while advertising is said to be more sophisticated in order to stimulate demand, consumers do fear the manipulative and subliminal techniques that is used (Heath and Heath 2008) cited (Pollay and Mittal 1993). Affective component has to do with customers’ feeling about a product or service. It is possible for customers to feel positive or negative about a product or brand. However, it is important that customers have positive attitude toward a product or brand because this will prompt both existing and potential customers to buy the product or brand but when customers develop negative attitude to a product or brand, this would be difficult to change therefore information provided for customers at this stage should be emotional rather than rational approach because emotional messages could be used to change customer’s feeling and their interest to use the product or brand. For example a tone of a voice, attractive colours, suitable music, style and so on. All these could be used to generate emotional disposition about a product or brand. Furthermore, conative component signifies the result of the cognitive and affective components whether to buy or not to buy the product (Botha et al, 2004). This means that customers take action based on their knowledge and feelings whether to accept or reject the product/brand. Fill (2009:155) states that â€Å"a conative approach stimulates people to try, test, trial, visit (a showroom or website) a brand usually free and often without overt commitment.† This involves the customers to try the products/services before beliefs or feelings are changed  either negative or positive about the products/services and this can be achieved through marketing communication tools such as sales promotion, direct marketing or personal selling. These tools can be used to force behavioral change for example sales promotion prompts customers to try a product or brand, direct marketing promotes a response from customers and engages in interaction, and personal selling remind the customers abo ut the benefits and persuade them to take positive actions. However, sale promotion for example could be by given free samples of the product to customers or organize an open days where potential customers and their families partakes in trial sections. Thus, at this stage the priority of marketing communications is to change customers’ attitudes in line with organization culture and this must be continuous and ongoing  process which takes time. Marketing communications can change customers’ negative attitudes into positive attitudes. Attitude towards a certain brand or product/ services are quite important dimension since they affect consumer’s tendency to purchase. It has to be emphasized that attitude is often difficult to change, with a coordinated communication campaign, this can be changed overtime. For example, if a consumer is of the view that smoking kills, no amount of persuasive information or advertisement can change such believe. According to Fill (2009) there are different techniques used by marketing communication to change customers’ attitudes. The author will explain these below: Firstly, marketing communication can be used to change customers’ misunderstanding. It is possible to change customers’ misunderstanding about a product or brand through product demonstration and functionality. For instance, if a potential customer have a negative impression or misunderstand the benefits of a product, communication campaign could be done to correct this impression by changing the packaging or the name of the product. Secondly, marketing communication can be used to change customers’ performance beliefs. Customers’ attitudes about a product or service can be change through appropriate marketing communication campaign for example, if a product presentation is in doubt, marketing communication could be used to provide   right information to correct the misperception. Also, marketing communication can be used to change consumer priorities. For example, if customers are too focused on one feature of the service or product say price for example without recognizing the variety of benefits it gets, a communication campaign could be used to change this attitude. Furthermore, marketing communication can be used to change the physical product element by modifying or reformulating the product. Using communication campaign might change consumer’s attitude and perception. Marketing communication campaign can also be used to change competitor’s perception- Changing the way competitor’s products are perceived by customers can differentiate the company brand positively. Lastly, change attributes priorities can be used to change attitudes that is, initiating a strategy to differentiate attribute can change attitudes. For example, by stressing the importance of ethical organisations behaviour such as cause related marketing and giving back to the community or third world countries, over rival competitors who stresses on innovation. Having gone through attitude formation and change, there are some models to consider in customer’s behaviour response to marketing communication. One of the models is AIDA model which will be discussed below. Procter et al .(1982) cited by Ayanwale et al (2005) states that the principal aim of consumer behaviour analysis is to explain why consumers act in a particular way under certain circumstances. Barry and Howard (1990) cited in Egan (2007) also states â€Å"that proponent of the traditional hierarchy framework suggest that customers respond to message in a very ordered way that is cognitively (thinking), then affectively (feeling) and conative (doing).† This means that customers respond based on what they know and their feelings about the product or service. Yorke and Littler (2011) assumed that learning about a product will lead to customers’ feeling about the product that results in the buy of the product. Also, stated that it is a learn-feel-buy model of consumer responses to marketing communications. This also means consumers response to marketing communications based on what they know, feel about the product or brand then take action. However, AIDA is one of the models of marketing communication based on a hierarchy of effects. Blythe (2006) states that AIDA is an easy model of consumer response to marketing communications and it stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. These are four steps marketing communicator needs to take customers through before they buy a product or brand. Moreover, cognitive component signifying that marketing communicator must get customer’s attention first before doing anything and this could be done for example using powerful words, music or pictures that will grab customer’s attention. Developing interest and desire to buy a product or brand are parts in the affective component, that is, where positive attitude toward the product or service required. The last stage is action which is the conative component where customers and potential customers take action, that is, to buy or not to buy the product. Yorke and Littler (2011) also assumed that progression logically through the AIDA stages is not always possible it depends on the product or service being offered and the target customers. However, attitude influences purchase decision. In some cases exposure to certain brand(s) through advertisement message may tempt the consumer to purchase the product, if the consumer on the other hand is dissatisfied with the purchase, or does not match the expected promises or requirement from the advertisement, then a process known as dissonance occurs. If this happens the advertised message will be viewed in a different way. In conclusion, marketing communications play a significant role in changing customers’ attitude and influence customers’ behaviour. Having considered McGuire’s information processing model, attitude formation and change and also consumer’s response behaviour, it could be said that customer’s attitude is not easy to change. This means attitude can be complex and difficult to study because different customer have different attitude for example, customer’s attitude A towards a product or brand may be different to customer’s attitude B. Attitude can be inferred from customer’s behavioural pattern or by creating a group of discussion to observe the consumers, or by simply using market research methods. Marketing communicators should understand customer’s behavior in order to provide them with right information. REFERENCES    Ayanwale, A. B., Alimi, T. and Ayanbimpe, M. (2005) ‘The influence of advertising on consumer brand preference.’ Journal of Social Science, Vol. 10, pp.9-16 Blythe, J. (2006) Essentials of marketing communications, 3rd edn. FT Prentice Hall. Botha, J., Strydom, J., and Brink, A. (2004) Introduction to marketing, 3rd edn. Juta and Co Limited, South Africa. Dibb, S., Simkin, L., Pride, W.M., and Ferrell, O.C (1997) Marketing, 3rd edn. Houghton Mifflin. Egan, J., (2007) Marketing communications, Thomson learning, Bedford Row. Fill, C. (2009) Marketing Communications: Interactivity, communities and content, 5th edn. Harlow, FT Prentice Hall. Heath, M.T. and Heath, M. (2008) ‘(Mis)trust in marketing: a reflection on consumers attitudes and perception’ Journal of marketing management Vol. 24, pp 1025-1039. Hughes, G. and Fill, C. (2007) Marketing communications, 1st edn. Butterworth- Heinemann. Kitchen, P.J. (1994) Marketing communication: Principles and Practice 1st edn. Thomson Business Press, Cornwall. Shimp, T.A (1997) Advertising, Promotion, and Supplemental Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, 4th edn. Dryden Press. Yorke, D. and Littler, D. (2011) AIDA Model [Online] Available from: blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9780631233176_chunk_g97814051025444_ss1-1 {Accessed 17 March 2011}

Analysis, segmentation and marketing mix of Apple

Analysis, segmentation and marketing mix of Apple Introduction The aim of this report is to analyse the current position of the company which includes the products, current strategic position, and current financial strength. Different types of marketing tools are used in this report. PEST analysis and Porter’s five force model for looking into the external environment. SWOT analysis for looking into the internal environment of the organization. This report also looks into market segmentation and the marketing mix of the product. Apple was first introduced by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976 to market and sell the Apple personal computer kit. The first computer kits were hand built and was kept for a public display first at the homebrew computer lab. This computer kit consisted of Motherboard with RAM, CPU, and some video chips. Since then apple have come a long way in the market all over the world and they are one of the leading companies in electronic products. This can be known with the informat ion given below: Current Strategic Position Apple believes in continuous improvement and they look into all the key sectors like environment, health and safety management systems and the quality of our products, processes and services. Looking into the Principle and goals of Apple, Apple has set out their own principles where they look to meet all the health and safety requirements, promote energy efficiency, and their main goals are; innovation is the most important thing for apple, to increase the number of sales of the product in the education field, providing new and user friendly software for the customers, and last but not the least providing high quality products to the customers. Looking into the current strategic position of Apple, with the introduction of its own operating system, hardware, software application, and with a completely new design, Apple looks to meet all the customer requirements like new products, ease of use, and an innovative design of the product. Apple is currently focusing on, brand awareness and improving the product by increasing the financial investment on marketing and advertisement, they are looking at expanding the retail segment by opening more number of stores all over the world, they are looking at keeping it up with the competition by implementing a cost leadership strategy, and they are looking to continue the reputation of being the leader in innovation for new technology by implementing product differentiation strategy. Looking into the current finance position of Apple, on October 19, 2009 Apple announced the financial results for the year 2009. The company posted revenue of $9.87 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.67 billion. These results can be compared to the revenue of $7.9 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.14 billion in the previous year quarter. International sales also helped 46% of the quarter’s revenue. Gross margin is 36.6% when compared to the previous year quarter which was 34.7%. Appl e reached 17% increase when compared to the previous year quarter by successfully selling 3.05 million Mac computers during the quarter. PEST analysis and Porter’s five forces are very important tools to establish the external environment of Apple:

Atrial fibrillation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Atrial fibrillation - Essay Example Often characterized by atrial dilatation and the shortening of the atrial ERP, the presence of atrial fibrosis and its structural remodeling changes the normal electrical refractoriness and contractile function of the heart by making the intra-cardiac pressure increase (University of Toronto; Allessie, Boyden and Camm). Because of atrial dilatation, heart-related diseases like hypertension, vulvar heart disease, and congestive heart failure occurs. Individuals who are at risk of AF include those who are more than 65 years of age, individuals with myocardial infarction, and individuals who received cardiothoracic surgery (Allessie, Boyden and Camm). Hypertension, ischemic or non-ischemic heart diseases, and mitral or tricuspid valvular disorders, hyperthyroidism, and alcohol drinking are among the most common factors that could trigger AF whereas atrial septal, congenital heart failure, pulmonary embolism, COPD, myocarditis, and pericarditis are among the less common factors that could trigger AF (Mitchell). Aside from a rapid ventricular response or arrhythmias, patients with mild AF may experience dizziness, dyspnea, diaphoresis, fatigue, and palpitation whereas patients with severe AF may experience chest pain, pulmonary edema, or syncope (Dresing and Schweikert). Using surgical intervention, AV node radiofrequency ablation, control of rhythm using cardioversion or AF substrate ablation, treatments for AF focuses on thromboembolism prevention, rhythm control, and ventricular rate control (Mitchell). Likewise, it is possible to use antiarrhythmic medications such as the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor to prevent stress by lowering the atrial pressure when administered to patients (Dresing and Schweikert; University of Toronto). Aside from showing irregular R-R intervals, the ECG of patients with AF is characterized with irregular timing in fibrillatory waves of QRS aside from the absence of P waves (Mitchell). (See