Essay about A Brief Synopsis of the Movie The Breakfast Club

The Princess, the Basket Case, the Jock, the Nerd, and the Criminal The Breakfast Club looks at young adults in their late teen years as they strive to figure out who they truly are and what they believe in. In the course of the movie the teens come to understand themselves and others better. This idea of self-identification follows closely with theorist Erik Erikson’s idea that at each stage in our lives we go through a psychological crisis and resolve it before moving on to the next stage. A Brief Synopsis of the Movie The breakfast club opens up with the quotation from David Bowie saying, â€Å"†¦and these children that you spit on, as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. Theyre quite aware of what theyre†¦show more content†¦She breaks through her stigma that popular girls don’t talk to the unpopular kids as she creates a relationship with Bender. Bender, a boy from across the tracks, is the stereotypical bad boy; he skips class, smokes dope, and comes from a broken home. He learns from Clair that although things may seem bad, there is some good in the world. Allison, a quiet shy girl, is considered more than different, she’s crazy. She keeps to herself and doesn’t conform to society; she wants to travel and try new things. Allison learns that she is unique but that sometimes conforming to society is okay when she decides to let Andrew into her life. Andrew, who is part of the same crowd as Clair, is a popular jock, and wants his dad to think that he could be the son any man would want. He learns that he is a good guy and comes to term with himself. Brian—the brain—feels the stress all straight A students feel. His parents pressure him to get good grades and stay on the straight and narrow. In the movie Brian learns it’s okay to be a kid and have fun every once in a while; that if he doesn’t he and all the other kids will become who they all hate most, their parents. At the end of the movie, the teens who were once strangers, all depart together. They become their own group realizing that in high school clicks aren’t everything and that their friendship is different than most. It’s on a deeper level and that each teen has something different to offer. They leave with a sense of self and aShow MoreRelatedProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 Pagesdoes not include management of projects. Rà ©sumà ©s of managers will soon be primarily a d escription of the individual’s participation in and contributions to projects. Good luck on your journey through the text and on your future projects. xi Brief Contents Preface vii 2 1. Modern Project Management 13. Progress and Performance Measurement and Evaluation 14. Project Closure 16. Oversight 564 504 532 15. International Projects 452 2. Organization Strategy and Project Selection 22 3. Organization:Read MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagesrely on a proven methodology that has grounding in the scientific literature. We present what has been shown to be a superior process for improving management skills, and we base our claims on scholarly evidence. This Introduction concludes with a brief description of the organization of the rest of the book and the importance of keeping in mind individual differences among people. INTRODUCTION 5 The Importance of Competent Managers In the last decade or so, an abundance of evidence hasRead MoreProject Managment Case Studies214937 Words   |  860 Pageswork. If marketing would stay out of engineering, we could get our job done. Marketing doesn t understand that there s more work for us to do other than just new product development. Marketing personnel should spend their time at the country club and in bar rooms. This will allow us in engineering to finish our work uninterrupted! Questions Marketing expects everyone in engineering to stop what they are doing in order to put out marketing fires. I believe that most of the time the

Economics for Business Appropriate Business Ideas

Question: Describe about the Economics for Business of Appropriate Business Ideas. Answer: Introduction Economics for Business is a subject that helps to observe and analyse the economic outcomes of an activity from the point of view of economists. The study of Economics of Business helps to analyse the benefits and issues related with a strategy that helps in proper decision making. The paper has been developed to answer two questions on the perspective of economic outcomes of two major activities. The study explains the impact of technology on the newspaper sales and police crackdowns on illicit drugs in the Northern Territory. Furthermore, the study recommends innovative ideas that can be helpful in making appropriate decisions while implying new strategies. Analysis The digital media such as the internet has entirely destroyed the revenue structure of printed newspapers all over the international market. According to the World Association of Newspapers, the stiff challenges of the conventional printed newspaper industry are not restricted in the US or UK markets. Due to digital media, traditional newspapers have vanished half of their classified Print and Advertising revenue. In the current scenario of modern technological efficiency, sales of the newspaper have been falling radically over the last two decades (Marshall, Moncrief, Rudd, Lee, 2012). Through the identification of the primary drivers leading to the situation, as an Economists standpoint, some instrumental discussions have been argued to the Board of Directors of ABC Newspaper. Meanwhile, the discussion and the economics for the current business scenario can be utilised to deliver significant advice to be followed by the newspaper agency. Figure: Print Revenue versus Online Revenue Source: (Mazzoleni Vigevani, 2013) In the current business scenario, a graph can be shown to the Board of Directors to identify the comparison of print revenue and online revenue generated in the contemporary markets. Meanwhile, since 2000, the print media revenue has been continuously declining against digital revenue. In the year 2000, the revenue generated by print media such as newspapers were recorded to be more than $65 billion whereas in 2013 the figure has touched as low as below $20 billion (Schrape, 2013). Conversely, the online revenue has explored the market at a robust pace. As a result of the decline of the sales, the print media advertising revenue has been decreased considerably in the past decade or so (Rodman, 2008). Therefore, looking at the demand perspective of the global buyers, the newspaper circulation must be reduced so that the cost of production can be manageable to some extent. Figure: Number of Newspaper Firms Source: (Mazzoleni Vigevani, 2013) On the other hand, in the last decade and a half, the number of newspaper firms has also been declined drastically due to the revenue decline in print media advertising. Meanwhile, in 2000, there were around 6200 newspaper firms wherein 2013, the revised figure showed 4500 newspaper firms operating in the market area. Through the understanding of the headwinds in the print media advertising, the Board of Directors of ABC Newspaper must be advised to improvise at the e-Newspaper to manage the target demographics popularity (Mazzoleni Vigevani, 2013). Moreover, by reducing the circulation of the newspapers, ABC Newspaper should target to stop the newspaper printing in the upcoming decade or so concentrating primarily on electronic media. Figure: Broadsheet newspaper circulation Source: (Speck Elliott, 2016) On the commercial propagation, a review of the broadsheet of newspaper circulation of the biggest market operators must be presented to the Board of Directors to make a realistic decision. The above figure has been given to show the dismal broadsheet of newspaper circulation of the most popular newspapers around the international market. Significantly, all of the favourite newspapers have shown a decline in newspaper circulation since 2007. By considering the poor market performance of the biggest market players of the newspaper industry, the Board of Directors must be advised to consider the conventional newspaper as one of the sources of news to promote electronic media to the target demographics at a reasonable pricing (Kaiser Song, 2009). The online e-paper of ABC Newspaper may find a massive number of subscribers as the online readers will find interest in the electronic copy following the demand trend. Figure: Time Spent versus Ad Spending on different Media Source: (Schrape, 2013) Despite the global heritage of newspaper, the modern social public has seemed to be spent more time on the internet platform. Herein, a graph has been specified to identify the time spent and advertising spending on different media in recent times. Surprisingly, the internet has been identified as the most profitable resource as 38% of the time has been spent by the public on the internet platform. Also, the advertisement spent has been upgraded to 8% in the same section. Conversely, the newspaper has shown the largest downside as social people have spent merely 8% of the time with newspaper. As a result, the advertisement spent has been reduced to 20% in the same media. Hence, from an economists standpoint, the Board of Directors must be suggested to identify the endless opportunities in the e-marketing so that the organisation can increase their profitability through the online advertising resources (Yu, Qi, Zhao, 2013). Under the given scenario, being realistic, the sales of the newspaper cannot be increased due to the presence of the internet platform. The reading trends and distribution of news have created significant headwinds for the conventional newspaper agencies (Cameron Haley, 2012). Therefore, on the basis of the business economics and demand perspective, e-Newspaper must be highlighted reducing the circulation of printed form of the news. In this way, the cost of production will be reduced by a significant margin. 2: Police Crackdowns are used to cut the supply of illicit drugs by reducing criminal and dealers overload. It has been found through research that in maximum cases there is a negative impact of the police crackdown that leads to increase in drug-related violence, murder and gun crime in a region (Engs Mulqueeny, 2013). Hence, the study has been developed to analyse the effect of increase police crackdown on illicit drugs and the health awareness programs along with increase penalties on use of illicit drugs over the Northern Territory. In order to proceed with the study, it is important to keep in mind that the demand of illicit drugs is assumed to be perfectly inelastic (Goodman Moynihan, 2012). Hence, the study presents the impacts using theoretical concepts and facts from previous researches. (a) Increase police crackdowns Increased police crackdowns on illicit drugs leads to fall in the number of dealers for a short span of time. But, due to perfectly inelastic demand of illicit drugs, the arrested drug dealers are replaced by new competitors in the long run. Hence, a negative impact can be evident due to increased crackdowns of police (Milmo, 2010). The effect of increased police crackdowns on illicit drugs are discussed herein below: Positive Impact The police of Northern Territory will take action against the drug dealers and agents. This will reduce the supply of illicit drugs in the region leading to rise in the price (Rowe, Wiggers, Wolfenden, Lynn Francis, 2010). A diagram has been presented below for better understanding. Figure: Demand and Supply of Illicit Drugs in the Short Run Source: (Cooper, Moore, Gruskin, Krieger, 2015) It can be seen that the supply falls in the short run from S1 to S2 due to decline in the number of dealers. It leads to rise in the price of illicit drugs in the Northern Territory from P1 to P2. Negative Impact It is expected that the number of dealers will be replaced by new competitors due to high rate of profitability because of the increase in price. Furthermore, there will a gang war to replace the older position of the dealers (Scott, 2004). Furthermore, the drug dealers will be ready to pay penalties to seek high profitability from the illegal business. A diagram has been presented for better understanding. Figure: Demand and Supply of Illicit Drugs in the Long Run Source: (Cooper, Moore, Gruskin, Krieger, 2015) It can be seen that due to fall in supply, the demand will increase at a higher pace that will further promote the price of illicit drugs in the territory. Hence, new dealers will replace the older ones to seek high profitability. Hence, it can be expected that the crime rate will increase in the long run. (b) Health awareness programs and increased penalties The health awareness programs will help to educate the population of Northern Territory about the serious health problems related to illicit drugs. Hence, it will make the young generation and new potential buyers aware of the fact that will control the increasing demand for the illicit drugs in the region (Wood, 2004). Furthermore, the increased penalties for illicit drug use will also help to control the demand in the market (Atkinson, 2013). Hence, these two strategies can be used to control the demand of illicit drugs in the Northern Territory. But, it will have certain negative impact over the government that is discussed herein below: High expenses: The government of NT needs to spend high amount of money on the resources that are used to increase the police crackdowns on illicit drugs. Along with that, there is a need of huge fund to conduct the health awareness programs (Scott, 2004). Hence, the strategies to reduce illicit drugs dealings in the region will cost the government with a high amount of money. Impact on the rest of the criminal justice system: The crackdowns lead to increased workload over the other departments of the government. Hence, the offenders are offered with lenient sentences in place of high investigation (Wood, 2004). Furthermore, the crackdowns force the other prisoners and cases out of the system. Opportunity Cost: It is important to note that allocating larger resources to stop crime in one sector will increase the level of crime in other fields. For example, crackdowns on illicit drugs will increase murders and gun crimes. Hence, the increased allocation of resources to stop illicit drugs will have opportunity cost over the government (Scott, 2004). Impact on Police Community relations: The increased crackdowns negatively impact the police-community relations that may lead to a civil war in the region. It is the primary reason for urban riots. Hence, it can be seen from the above analysis that increase crackdowns on illicit drugs increases crime and have negative effects over the NT government. Hence, there is a need of proper cost analysis before implementing new policies in the region. Conclusion Under the existing circumstances on the basis of given scenarios, the Board of Directors of ABC Newspaper must identify the role of e-Newspaper to improve the sales of the newspaper. Moreover, in order to improve the revenue figures of the agency, online advertising must be inevitable. In case of the second scenario, understandably, there will be both negative as well as position effect of police crackdown. Meanwhile, such regime can influence the prices of drugs to move upwards. At the same time, increase crackdowns on illicit drugs increases crime and have negative effects over the NT government as well. References Atkinson, L. (1993). Aboriginal Youth, Police and the Juvenile Justice System in Western Australia.Children Australia,18(01), 14-19. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1035077200003278 Cameron, G. Haley, J. (2012). Feature Advertising: Policies and Attitudes in Print Media.Journal Of Advertising,21(3), 47-55. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1992.10673375 Cooper, H., Moore, L., Gruskin, S., Krieger, N. (2005). The impact of a police drug crackdown on drug injectors ability to practice harm reduction: A qualitative study.Social Science Medicine,61(3), 673-684. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.12.030 Engs, R. Mulqueeny, K. (1983). A survey of drug use and attitudes toward drugs among male law students and police trainees in Queensland, Australia: A research note.Journal Of Criminal Justice,11(1), 57-66. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0047-2352(83)90098-3 Goodman, A. Moynihan, D. (2012).The silenced majority. Chicago: Haymarket Books. Kaiser, U. Song, M. (2009). Do media consumers really dislike advertising? An empirical assessment of the role of advertising in print media markets.International Journal Of Industrial Organization,27(2), 292-301. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijindorg.2008.09.003 Marshall, G., Moncrief, W., Rudd, J., Lee, N. (2012). Revolution in Sales: The Impact of Social Media and Related Technology on the Selling Environment.Journal Of Personal Selling And Sales Management,32(3), 349-363. https://dx.doi.org/10.2753/pss0885-3134320305 Mazzoleni, G. Vigevani, G. (2013).Mapping digital media. London: Open Society Foundations. Milmo, C. (2010).Crackdowns on drug dealers led to rise in violent crime, study finds.The Independent. Retrieved September 2016, from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/crackdowns-on-drug-dealers-led-to-rise-in-violent-crime-study-finds-1955131.html Rodman, G. (2008).Mass media in a changing world. Boston: McGraw Hill. Rowe, S., Wiggers, J., Wolfenden, L., Lynn Francis, J. (2010). Establishments Licensed to Serve Alcohol and Their Contribution to Police-Recorded Crime in Australia: Further Opportunities for Harm Reduction*.Journal Of Studies On Alcohol And Drugs,71(6), 909-916. https://dx.doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2010.71.909 Schrape, K. (2013). Print media in the advertising markets of the future.Journal Of Media Economics,6(1), 52-72. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08997769309358234 Scott, M. (2004).Center for Problem-Oriented Policing | Response Guides | The Benefits and Consequences of Police Crackdowns.Popcenter.org. Retrieved September 2016, from https://www.popcenter.org/Responses/police_crackdowns/print/ Speck, P. Elliott, M. (2016). Predictors of Advertising Avoidance in Print and Broadcast Media.Journal Of Advertising,26(3), 61-76. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1997.10673529 Wood, E. (2004). Displacement of Canada's largest public illicit drug market in response to a police crackdown.Canadian Medical Association Journal,170(10), 1551-1556. https://dx.doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.1031928 Yu, X., Qi, Z., Zhao, Y. (2013). Support Vector Regression for Newspaper/Magazine Sales Forecasting.Procedia Computer Science,17, 1055-1062. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2013.05.134

Motivation in Learning and Teaching free essay sample

University teachers these days have to make themselves accountable in their teaching. Students are certainly a good source of feedback, for after all it is students that have first-hand experience of their teachers’ teaching. However, even ignoring the doubt whether all students are able to exercise impartial and objective judgement on their teachers’ performance, there are plainly aspects of teaching on which students are not in a position to pass professional judgement. Indeed, â€Å"student feedback questionnaires† tend to be rather limited in scope. Come to think of it, there are actually a number of sources in addition to student feedback, on which we as university teachers can depend for evaluating our teaching. First of all, we ourselves are sometimes the most reliable source of feedback a sort of â€Å"gut feeling† which we must be having right after teaching a class, a vague but genuine feeling about how well or how badly we have done! If only that feeling could be â€Å"externalised† and categorised or even quantified, how much more useful would that be for appraising our own performance. We will write a custom essay sample on Motivation in Learning and Teaching or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Another rich source of feedback is of course our colleagues, our peers. It is precisely in the context of evaluating our teaching performance that colleagues are able to play a significant role. Peer review/observation of teaching, if handled with care and carried out systematically, is capable of yielding extremely fruitful results, because our peers can be absolutely impartial, objective and are subject specialists. Furthermore, peer review/observation of teaching may over time form a substantial part of anyone’s â€Å"teaching portfolio† which may turn into an effective basis for contract renewal, ubstantiation or promotion. But then all this is easier said than done. We are of course well aware of the benefits of peer review/observation of our teaching. But the crucial question is: How should we go about it? One solution may be to happily marry a new form of micro-teaching to peer review/observation of teaching by using â€Å"state-of-the-art† video technolog y. Dr. Dwight Allen, who was one of the founders of traditional micro-teaching back in the sixties in Stanford University, 1 recently developed a new micro-teaching model which centres around the so-called â€Å"2 + 2† feedback. It works like this 1 Allen, Dwight W. Wang, Wai-ping (1996), Micro-teaching,Hsin Hua Publishers, Beijing The colleague whose teaching is being evaluated, teaches a five-minute lesson to a group of peers, usually four colleagues, focusing on one particular skill or technique, e. g. questioning skill, in the presence of a supervisor who is an expert’s in the colleague field. The entire session is videotaped, preferably using more than one camera, so that â€Å"split screen effects† can be achieved, capturing teacher and student action and reaction for playback viewing. Right after the â€Å"trial teach†, the supervisor will ask the teacher to self-critique his or her own performance. Then each peer will be asked to give feedback by following the â€Å"2 + 2† formula, which is actually making two positive comments and two suggestions for improvement. This way, if there are four peers present, a total of eight positive comments and eight different suggestions for improvement will be made available for the teacher’s consideration. All the time, videotaping is going on, so that every one will have a live record of what is happening. For the teacher such micro-teaching sessions would represent opportunities for safe practice and useful feedback. Colleagues may like to consider this suggestion, give it some thought and then try it out together with other colleagues. Colleagues may form â€Å"self-help groups† for micro-teaching/peer review purposes, whereby each colleague will take turns to be â€Å"observed and evaluated† and every time one colleague will act as â€Å"supervisor†. It should be emphasised that not only â€Å"generic† teaching kills such as getting students motivated and interested in the lesson, but even more importantly, particular skills that are specific to a given discipline or subject area should be trained and practised. Thanks to information technology (IT) facilities such as capturing video segments and footage, capturing sound and other media effects onto VCD’s and CD-ROM’s, colleagues these days can â€Å"store† their teaching endeavours and micro-teaching sessions reviewed by peers, in IT-based formats as well as in print format, making documentation of their teaching performances so much more versatile and variegated.

Why has Richard Wagner been a controversial composer even today Essays

Why has Richard Wagner been a controversial composer even today Essays Why has Richard Wagner been a controversial composer even today Essay Why has Richard Wagner been a controversial composer even today Essay in which the orchestra was no longer a simple accompaniment to the singers, but an integral part of the action. Wagner made the music continuous, unlike the previous tendency to make an opera as a collection of separate arias and ensembles which could be performed separately . He used a complex system of what are called Leitmotifs, or melodic ideas which stand for characters , things or ideas in the drama. With Wagner, harmonies became more complex than ever before, and his revolutionary use of this element influenced composers everywhere, and led to the music of the 20th century. As I already mentioned, Wagner is the most controversial composer of 19th century. He divides people as no other composer did it before. A lot of people and musical critics find his work magnificent, but there are a lot of others who cant stand his music, because of his ideas, mostly political opinions in the real life. Even a century ago, many critics and composers thought his music was awful noise, with the most cacophonous harmonies, but others recognized its greatness. Wagners operas, writings, his politics, beliefs and unorthodox lifestyle made him a controversial figure during his lifetime. The debate about his ideas and their interpretation, particularly in Germany during the 20th century, continued to make him politically and socially controversial in a way that other great composers are not. The biggest issue is generated by Wagners comments on Jews, which continue to influence the way that his works are regarded, and by the essays he wrote on the nature of race from 1850 onwards, and their putative influence on the anti-Semitism of Adolf Hitler. In some of his essays, Wagner attacks Jewish contemporaries, especially Felix Mendelssohn, and accused Jews of being a harmful and alien element in German culture. Wagner stated the German people were repelled by their alien appearance and behavior. He argued that because Jews had no connection to the German spirit, Jewish musicians were only capable of producing shallow and artificial music. They therefore composed music to achieve popularity and, thereby, financial success, as opposed to creating genuine works of art. Thats why, Wagner was the Hitlers favorite composer and he made his name a symbol of the Nazis. As a result of his infatuation, Hitler adopted many parts of Wagners thought and used this as propaganda that would influence World War II. As a result Wagners operas cannot be found in the modern state of Israel although his works have been broadcasted on government-owned TV and radio. To this day, those who attempt staging public performances are halted by protests, including protests from Holocaust survivors. As a great example, I have watched, the great from the filmmaking point of view, Triumph of the Will the most dramatic ever made propaganda film by Leni Riefenstahl, which chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg. The film opens with shots of the clouds above the city, and then moves through the clouds to float above the assembling masses below, with the intention of portraying beauty and majesty of the scene. The shadow of Hitlers plane is visible as it passes over the tiny figures marching below, accompanied by music from Richard Wagners Die Meistersinger von Ni rnberg, which slowly turns into the Horst-Wessel-Lied. Among Wagners ideas was that the opera be an uninterrupted melody, also emphasizing drama as a focal point. To Wagner, the opera was the ultimate blend of all the arts. Spending many years in exile, he went for long periods without hearing the performance of his own works. It is exceedingly difficult for us of the present generation to do justice to Wagner, or to arrive at any final and impartial conclusions concerning the permanent value of his gigantic achievement. As a conclusion, today Wagner is no longer a symbol of Nationalism and Nazism, as he was at the beginning of the controversy. Like Lili Eylon in her essay Wagner Controversy says: The question is not whether Wagners music is of high or low quality, nor is the argument about how deep-seated was his anti-Semitism really relevant. There is no doubt that there have been other composers who were no less anti-Semitic. While it cannot be maintained that Wagner was directly responsible for German National Socialism, there is no doubt that he was a powerful symbol in the Nazi era, and his music held a singular importance in the Nazi psyche. For those who survived the Holocaust, Wagners music is terrible reminder of the horror those people have gone through. For them music must be separated from the politics, but unfortunately Wagner was the composer, who actually merged them together and became the composer of music and race.

Stereotyping around us Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Stereotyping around us - Essay Example Thus, stereotyping is a dangerous thing, as it makes us judge about all the members of certain group (race, nationality, profession) basing on the information about several representatives of that group. However, it is claimed that stereotypes exist in order to make our lives better and more comfortable. We simply do not have time to receive all the information about certain phenomena, analyzing it ourselves and making judgments. In order to save time society has invented stereotypes which allow passing concentrated information from one person to another. For example, it works with nationalities in a simple way, due to stereotypes we know that all Canadians are polite, Brazilians like to have fun, German are serious and punctual. But not all the stereotypes are positive, unfortunately, and some may hurt dignity of representatives of certain nation (Rogier & Yzerbut, 1999). Stereotypes start acting before mind starts working. Stereotypes leave imprints on our perceptions before this perceptions get to the analytical part of the brain. If a person has solid experience and is not prone to trust all the new information he will critically asses stereotypes and somehow compare it with existing knowledge. But in most cases people think that stereotypes are trustworthy and accept this information as reasonable. This can lead to building further stereotypes and seeing world in a distorted way in general. It is absolutely superficial to judge all 1 billion of Chinese as academically gifted or viewing all the Kuwaiti as showing off, isn`t it? Therefore, stereotypes must be thought over, analyzed critically and only then taken into

Consumer Behaviour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Consumer Behaviour - Assignment Example This paper will be focused on the marketing practices of the Lloyd’s TSB bank in its endeavours to retain its customers. Lloyd’s TSB is a retail bank that is based in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1995 by the merger of Lloyd’s bank and the TSB group. Lloyd’s bank was originally founded in Birmingham in 1765 while the TSB group, a rival bank, was formed in 1810. The marketing mix of Lloyd’s TSB has seen it realise admirable profits through the years. The marketing mix elements, also known as the 4p’s, are price, place, product and promotion. In simple terms, a product includes all features as well as goods and related services that a business offers to its clients. The product is the most crucial component in the marketing mix. This is because products are the market expression of the manufacturer’s productive capabilities. Products determine a producer’s capacity to link with customers. A product policy or strategy is of enormous significance to a corporation; product decisions dictate the scope and direction of industry activity (Singh, 2011). Additionally, market indicators such as profits, sales, image and market share are also dependent on products. The products of companies also influence other components of the marketing mix. Therefore, without proper product policy, a corporation cannot pursue further elements of the marketing mix. With the rapid advancement of technology, a banking company has no choice but to advance as well in order to satisfy the desires of its clients and remain competitive. The Lloyd’s TSB group boasts a diverse array of services and products that cater for a large clientele. The banking options available to its customers include the phone bank as well as internet banking. Customers can also text financial information from a mobile phone and make use of cash point

Stakeholders In Planning Of Change

Stakeholders In Planning Of Change Prior to implementing a companywide change, it is important to get stakeholders on board. Organisations take their stakeholders into confidence, just to ensure the smooth transition, since they are the one who will be affected by the change. For an organisation stakeholder can be its employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, managers, government, local community, creditors etc. n order to achieve this goal, stakeholder analyses are carried out. Stakeholder Analysis The process of identifying those who will be affected by the actions of organisation. It also enables the managers to analyze the attitudes of stakeholders towards the change. In order to carry out these analysis, following steps are taken: Identify the stakeholders in stakeholder analysis the first step is to come up with the list of any who will be affected by the organisational actions, this can include an individual, a group or an organisation. The possible stakeholders for Gill Construction can be: new Managing Director previous MD senior managers suppliers lenders / banks customers public future recruits, environment protection groups regulatory bodies Prioritize your stakeholders For organisations the list of stakeholders can be very long, in one case of university 20,000 stakeholders were identified. This doesnt mean that everyone is very important to the organisation. Hence the next step in stakeholder analysis is to prioritize stakeholders. This can be done using Power / Interest Grid. Using this grid, Gill construction can identify their key stakeholders, which can be: new Managing Director senior managers suppliers lenders / banks customers public environment protection groups and regulatory bodies existing workforce Understand Your Key Stakeholders this is the last step in stakeholder analysis. It focuses on understanding the key stakeholders, and defines the way they will be affected. It also highlights the interests stakeholders have with the organisation. It answers the following question: What financial or emotional interest do they have in the outcome of change? Is it positive or negative? What motivates them? What information do they want? How do they want to receive information? What is the best way of communicating with them? What is their current opinion? Is it based on good information? Who influences their opinions generally? Do some of these influencers therefore become important stakeholders in their own right? If they are not likely to be positive, what will win them around to support change? How to manage their opposition How they can influence others by their opinion? Convergence and Divergence Another model adopted by management gurus to analyze the stakeholders. It enables the managers to identify the factors which are opposing the stakeholders and which are supporting it. Divergence analysis of the factors which are opposing the change for stakeholders. The first step is to identify the basic change factors which are causing the opposition, these can be beliefs, values, and goals associated with the stake holders. Managers need to answers like What are their beliefs about change and which have led them to oppose it? What are the values being transgressed by change actions? Are their stress values being triggered? How is the change affecting their career social goals? Managers also need into their perception of the change, analyzing this can give them huge edge converting their opposition. They need to answer questions like What do they think about change? What do they think will happen? How do they look at other stakeholders? Convergence elements which are supporting the change. It is much focused on those who oppose the change. Managers need to understand who they are dealing with, what they are capabable how and how they can affect them. For-example A regulatory body or HSE will have permission to shut down the work in progress if they find anything in violation of the laws. Also in case of Supply chain, they may also ruin their relationship with the supplier. Banks and Lenders will have their leverage over the organisation since a loan was taken for the purchase of new machinery. Managers need to look into the following cases: How the stakeholder will be managed? Do they need any leadership or they will just follow? What made them follow the leadership How will they support the change? How prepared are they for the change? Evaluate the systems used to involve stakeholders in the planning of change Stakeholders Circle: A tool designed to gain stakeholder commitment and involve the key stakeholders in developing a change management strategy. This cycle has six steps and also known as Six Steps Stakeholders Cycle Identify the stakeholders The first step is to identify the key stakeholders, which can influence and have interest within the organisation. Prioritize the stake holders Managers need to identify the key stakeholder using the Power-Interest Grid. For Gill Construction these key stakeholders are : MD Employees Management Customers Suppliers Regulatory Bodies Map the Profile next step is to map the profile, how will they be affected, what is in the change for them, how they can be supported, what kind of support we can get from them, what are their culture and values. All the questions will be answered at this point Engagement strategy At this point a managers need to decide how they are going to address the issues of stakeholders in order to gain their commitment and support. New MD of Gill Construction need to hold a meeting with management of the company. Clearly define what He wants to achieve and what his goals are. Since his goal is to improve the quality of the work done and also expand the business. It will be then the job of Management to directly contact their respective staff members and explain the situation to them. Ideas for improvement will be taken. Meeting and Presentations will be held with suppliers and explain your objective to them. Also Management will seek advice from regulatory bodies to assists them in improving the H S at workplace. Banks and Lenders will also be taken into confidence. A clear business plan will be presented to them. Optimise their Support next step in this cycle is to optimise the support from stakeholders. Managers need to be very clear and specific about their objective to the stakeholder and try to get most out of them. They need to keep good relationships with their lenders/ banks and suppliers. Monitor the last and final stage is to monitor the strategy. They need to keep going back to their stakeholders and ensure their support is still with them. If they have any kind of doubts they need to clear them out. Develop a change management strategy with stakeholders A strategy will be formed which will help management at Gill Construction to gain commitment from their stakeholders. A general change management strategy involves three steps: Situational awareness before a companywide change is implemented, everyone will be made aware of the change and what is going to happen in result of this change. A vision will be created Stakeholders will be informed that how this will effect. Suppliers will be notified about what will be expected of them. Employees will be taken into confidence to avoid panic. Supporting structures second step is to structure teams and sponsor coalition. They will be debriefed about who is going to do what. If they will be let go off, they will be informed at this stage. They will be informed that they need to trained to operate the new machinery. Bank or Lender will be informed about new purchases and equipment. New policy about H S will be sent to HSE and they will be informed about it. Suppliers will be contacted and new terms regarding JIT will be set, also material price will be revisited. Strategy analysis this stage involves risk analysis to be carried out. what degree of risk is involved in this change. What will happen if this strategy fails. In case there is no progress even after this change, what will we do, what if lenders refuse to pass a load. In case of resistance from stakeholders a resistance to change strategy will be required. Management will give their best to negotiate on good terms with the suppliers and use the bargaining power. Management also need to convince the bank and lenders to pass the load and take them into confidence. Create a strategy for managing resistance to change It is in human nature that whenever they are asked to move out of their comfort zone or change, they resist it. When organisations go under change it is very obvious that stakeholders will be afraid of its outcome. Hence it is very important to manage this resistance because this resistance can raise the risk factor during the change or transition process. Passive versus Active Resistance A framework adopted from Active Passive Being critical Agreeing verbally but not following through Ridiculing failing to implement change Appealing to fear Procrastinating or dragging one feet Using facts selectively Feigning ignorance Blaming or accusing Withholding information, suggestion, help or support Intimidating or threatening Standing by or allowing change to fail Manipulating Blocking Starting rumours Arguing Managing Resistance Before a change is implemented it is very important for managers to either eliminate resistance completely or bring it down to a very lower level such that it has a very minor effect. There can be number of ways for managing this resistance. Some of the ways adopted by Gill Construction can be: Communication everyone within the organisation should be made aware of the situation. Managers need to communicate openly with all the stakeholders and discuss the issues with them. Even if they are supporting the change management need to check with them back to back to ensure the full commitment. Management need to hold meetings, brainstorming session with the staff and communicate with them. Suggestions will be taken from the staff and their participation will be encouraged. Training staff will be provided with appropriate training to build up their skills so that they can operate the new machinery. This will help to eliminate the resistance put up by the operational workforce. Also work-shops will be held with other staff to ensure that they are not left behind. They will be provided with the information and steps involved in this transition will be explained to them. Feedback Taking feedback or suggestions from the stakeholders is always the best way to gain their commitment. This shows to them that management is still listening to them and they hold a value to them. Taking feedback about the training is also good to monitor the staff performance. Develop appropriate models for change In the current scenario, Gill Construction has newly appointed Managing Director, who is not very happy with the current operational situation of the organization .He wants to improve the internal situation of the organization as well as the product quality. In past there were a lot of incidents related to poor health and safety at work place, this was due to the fact that no one was following the policy. Also there were cases of project being delayed due to the lack of appropriate equipment and machinery. Since the management decided to go under a change they have faced a heavy resistance from Suppliers, and employees. Also there were concerns over H S policy. The appropriate change management model for Gill construction would be ADKAR model by Prosci. Awareness Management need to create awareness among all the stakeholders and communicate the vision to them clearly, this will help to get them on board. Meeting will be held with suppliers and explain to them about the Just in Time approach for the material in order to avoid storage costs and material wastage. Employees will be explained that what will be expected of them. They will be informed about the new machinery and equipment and their usage. They will also be debriefed about following H S policies or they will face fine. Desire next step is to get feedback from the stakeholders and see what they desire. Full stakeholder participation will be encouraged. They will also monitor the desire for the stakeholders to change. This will be done using meeting and brainstorming sessions Knowledge next step is to educate and train the staff. This will help to motivate the work force and gain their trust. A list will be made regarding the skills and knowledge needed to support the change. If the supplier can provide the stuff on time. Ability even if the stakeholders have the skills and knowledge to support the change but do they have the ability to support it. For-example Supplier has the complete knowledge of JIT and has skilled work force but do not have enough sources or ability to carry it out. Same is the case with employees they might have skills to operate the machinery but they might not have ability to work at a certain place Reinforcement the last step is to reinforce the sources to retain change. Training should be provided to the staff to motivate them and make them feel empower. Also managers need to look if the current supplier cannot agree on the new terms than a new supplier might be required. Plan to implement a model for change Organizational Development A companywide effort to increase organizations effectiveness. It focuses to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of the organization, so that it can adopt the change e.g. technological or new market or competitor. OD involves process re-engineering and system re-structuring within the organization to increase the effectiveness. Business Process Re-engineering- the complete rethinking, redesigning and reengineering of the business process. The process of material delivery or supply chain will be redesigned. Supplier will be asked to adopt the JIT approach and supply the material at right time. The material will be kept in very low quantity, and if there is need of more material Mangers have to inform supplier prior to 3-days. They will demand for more stock when they have 20% of the stock left. Also Management will adopt a strict approach towards H S policies at work place. If anyone found in violation of these policies will be heavily fined. Customers will be in direct contact with the Project Manager and everything will be done through him. Project Manager will discuss the issues with senior management on weekly basis. Push-Pull Strategy In the current system, organization is following the Push Strategy, which means the stock is Supplier driven. The demand for material is sent to the supplier and it is then delivered but it is resulting in overstocking and in some cases delays which is unacceptable. Hence a new strategy is required, which will be Pull based supply chain. In this strategy the order is placed by the organization in the required quantity, and supplier has to deliver that on time. This will be a mix of Push and Pull. The demand will be given by Gill Construction when the stock reached the 20% mark, and then supplier will be required to deliver the material as demanded. Develop appropriate measures to monitor progress Once the change implementation strategy is planned, the next step is to put appropriate measures in place which will monitor the performance. This can be achieved with the use of following: Goal-based evaluation the aim of this evaluation is to monitor the performance of change and see if the desired goals have been achieved, this involves: Formulating clear goals, what we wanted to achieve. The goal was to improve the operational quality and supply chain. The next step is to align the organizational goals with the change goals. Gill Construction aim is to provide quality service to the client and gaining customer satisfaction, that will be aligned with the goals for change, the change was required to improve supply chain, and also service quality by using new equipment. Next step is to recognize if we have achieved our goals. The effectiveness of supply chain can be checked by measuring waste levels. Also work force commitment can be seen by appraisals and the percentage of accidents at work place. Process-based evaluation it is another tool which measures the effectiveness on the basis of process performance. This checks if the process redesigning has improved the service quality. It will focus on the supply chain process and see if the process has shown its effectiveness. Are the stakeholders happy with the process. The new process for customers to be in direct contact with project manager and not with head office, is it really helping customers or not. Feedback can be taken at this point, which can assists the managers in monitoring the situation.