Essay on Marketing Mix and Promotional Strategy - 1398 Words

Product Description The LEGO Group organization is famous due to its flagship product – colourful plastic bricks that can be interlocked to form a variety of figures, and then disconnected again. These binding bricks originated in a wooden form when the company was first established in Billund, Denmark by Kirk Kristiansen in 1932 (The LEGO Group, 2012), and today’s well known plastic version was introduced in 1958 (Rosenberg). The company’s head office is located in Billund to this day, and The LEGO Group remains privately owned by Kristiansen’s family (The LEGO Group, 2012). They currently sell toys and teaching materials in over 130 countries worldwide. Although the company produces a wide variety of LEGO brick products, including†¦show more content†¦It features four interconnected yellow bricks against a green background, with the shadow of the bricks displaying the outline of a Tyrannosaurus Rex (see appendix A). In this way, the organization has creatively used a rational approach to attract potential buyers; the image ultimately says â€Å"this is what you can do with our product, doesn’t it look fun?† The target group for this particular advertisement seems to be young North American boys aged 4 to 12 with an active imagination. The colours used, along with the subject of the ad (a dinosaur), would be more appealing to young boys than girls in a modern North American culture. Male children have traditionally been encouraged to reject ‘feminine’ colours like pink and purple and instead choose more ‘masculine’ colours like blues and greens (Clark). Young boys are also encouraged to play with toys that reflect more masculine behaviours, with scary and tough dinosaurs being one of many examples. The extreme simplicity of the ad also makes it clear that the intended audience is young, imaginative children. The sole reliance on visuals is sure to capture the interest of a child that may lack the selective attention span needed to read a body of text (BlueSmile, 2009), and the idea that a series of interlocking blocks could represent a dinosaur would be apprecia ted by an imaginative child. The LEGOShow MoreRelatedPromotional Strategies : Marketing Mix1228 Words   |  5 PagesPromotional Strategies Promotion is one of the marketing mix elements among a system of five in a promotional plan, known as the five P’s. These elements are personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing and publicity. 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Challenges That Managers Face - 985 Words

Managers are people who combine different types of resources and coordinate them efficiently and effectively to achieve goals set by their organisations. The term â€Å"efficient† in the aspect of management means the managers employ the resources wisely and cost-effectively, whereas the term â€Å"effective† means the managers make the right decision and strive hard to achieve the objectives by performing planning, organising, leading and controlling functions. These four functions are extremely important and must be coordinated to ensure the management operates as a whole. According to Johnson, providing inspiration as well as leadership is the primitive role a manager should play in today’s modern globalization. The key point to inspire the†¦show more content†¦In order to overcome the problem, managers can acquire feedbacks from the team about the instructions that they are unclear about. Performing regular documentations prepared by the team is an alternative way to ensure that the goals are tightened. No matter how challenging it is, it will eventually come to a solution with successful skills management regardless of the number of employees involved. Managers running modern corporations such as multinational enterprises are often associated with operational risks well beyond what was thought. These organisations manage production establishments and deliver services overseas and are more likely to get involved in bribery and corruption due to ethical failures. Operational risk is the risk of loss as a result of internal failures in a corporation, people or external events which will lead to the collapse of financial institutions. Effective risk management is extensively depending on the ability of a company to sense potential fraud issues, analyze the situation critically and adopt the best approach to remedy the situation. 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Reflective Paper Organisational Dialogue Free Essays

Huhtamaki – Reflective Paper During the interview, the Chief Executive Officer (Brad) and plant manager (Simon) devoted a considerable amount of time to our communication analysis of their plant. I hadn’t expected two executives to become so involved with a University case study, and to discuss their credo, mission statements, strategies, and—of critical importance to me—internal communication strategy, in so much detail. Gerard Ellinor (2001) stress that authentic leaders need to practise and execute dialogue, and to me, this was what Brad and Simon were doing: showing their authentic leadership through dialogue. We will write a custom essay sample on Reflective Paper Organisational Dialogue or any similar topic only for you Order Now I thought this may have been purely for our benefit, but after four hours, beginning with introductory meetings and followed by interviews and a shop floor tour, it became apparent that management was striving to develop a learning culture. I began to understand that management is about creating an environment to communicate through different mediums: verbal and visual in varying forums; formal meetings, face-to-face meetings, and graphical representations of key messages on the shop floor and around the offices. This essay will reflect my case study experience of the role of dialogue as a tool within Huhtamaki for fostering dialogic communication and developing a learning culture within the organisation. Furthermore, I will highlight the limitations associated with dialogue and with resistive employees who refuse to engage. I had a preconceived idea that management would have a top-down hierarchal structure, with a ‘closed door’ communication policy based on research from Swink Way (1995), Downs Adrian (2004) and Clarke (2006). On the contrary, I found management offered an ‘open door’ policy. For example, Brad and Simon understand that organisational effectiveness is dependent upon communication across subcultural boundaries. Therefore, they offer an open door policy, where any employee could approach them to discuss any issues without consequences. Given the traditional hierarchal structure of a typical manufacturing plant with leading hands, supervisors and union delegates, I thought allowing shop floor employees to communicate directly with management an unconventional approach. Schein (1993) states that dialogue begins with creating a sense of equality, and this is what Brad and Simon are striving to achieve within their organisation. According to my understanding, they are creating an environment where employees feel comfortable in communicating, and moving away from the erstwhile problems associated with communication via union delegates, which has often caused industrial disputes and created subcultural differences between management and shop floor employees. Amy (2008) states in her research study that management needs to adopt an informal and approachable communication style. I found it interesting that this is the strategy that Brad and Simon have adopted to aid in changing the organisational culture. In order to move away from a ‘them and us’ attitude, they focused on creating an open, trusting environment which fosters learning. Simon in particular encourages employees to be upfront, and to discuss problems or issues. However, he does not merely provide solutions: he fosters dialogic communication by engaging the employees with questions until they come to realise the answers themselves. I thought this might create awkward situations if the employees could not find answers. But my concern was dismissed; Simon coaches and mentors employees to think about issues or mistakes, and ensures they develop a solution for themselves, thus creating a learning environment. Management’s ‘open door’ policy was not the only means for communication. Management scheduled a daily team meeting, weekly production meetings, and monthly ‘tool box’ meetings, where organisational issues were discussed in more detail. My first impression was that there were too many meetings. When would employees have time to get any work done, if they were continually involved in meetings with colleagues from different departments? I soon learned that this was a necessary step, as not all employees have access to email. Management has to rely on face-to-face verbal communication to ensure that messages are communicated, received, and most importantly, understood. Furthermore, to communicate with employees with no access to email, management used the hallway between the cafeteria and shop floor as a ‘communication corridor,’ posting organisational information alongside safety, quality, production efficacy and operational information. I recall seeing very detailed graphs, charts and statistics, and wondered whether the average shop floor employee would be able to interpret and analyse this data. Simon stated that it was necessary to communicate the same messages continuously in order to engage employees, both verbally in meetings and visually around the work place. I discovered that during most meetings, unless an employee was directly involved in the conversation, he or she would not engage in dialogue. This concerned me; as Schein (1993) states, leaders need to motivate to engage, as employees may not volunteer to engage in dialogue. I now struggled to understand why was it so difficult to engage the employees in dialogue. They would not engage in dialogue during formal meetings and relied on informal face-to-face meetings, where quite often, they needed to be coached to engage in a two-way conversation to find solutions. I felt that management was providing every possible opportunity for employees to be able to communicate with employees, but nonetheless, a communication culture had not successfully been created. Gerard Ellinor (2001) state that dialogue is not something that can be forced upon employees; they need to participate willingly, and if dialogue is introduced into a hostile environment, it can fail. I could see that management was creating a safe environment in which to communicate, but soon realised that other parts of the workplace provided a different type of ambience. Part of our communication analysis was a tour around the shop floor, and one of the first things I noticed was the difference in body language between various employees. It was very evident as we walked past their workstations that some employees were open and approached management, while others ignored our presence, creating a feeling of tension. It was obvious that although management was trying to dilute the ‘them and us’ attitude, some employees were still bitter from past experiences of management. I now started to fully comprehend the views put forward by Gerard Ellinor (2001): that dialogue is a tool that requires time and knowledge of the working process. It needs to grow within the organisation. Although Brad and Simon have created a safe environment, they now need to focus on educating their employees in the process of dialogue and the benefits of dialogue in order to create a learning culture. Furthermore, I support the recommendations of Dixon (1998) for management to engage employees and involve them in the decision-making process. I would expect the employees to thereby see their input as valid and valued; consequently, they would have a personal interest in creating a greater understanding of issues and solutions. In consideration of the fact that Simon has had some success with the ‘open door’ policy, and that Brown Isaacs (1997) propose that learning is not happening during scheduled meetings or organised forums, but in less formal places, I still recommend developing dialogue during formal scheduled meetings. Management needs to focus on encouraging honest dialogue and transparency within formal meetings, as per Mazutis Slawski (2009). I feel this is a valid point, as face-to-face meetings are limited to certain employees with whom management has good rapport. Employees who are resistive to change and still foster a ‘them and us’ attitude will simply not approach management. I came to believe that Brad and Simon are authentic leaders, and have the capabilities to shape the culture of their organisation through dialogic communication. Reference List Amy H. Amy, 2008, ‘Leaders as facilitators of individual and organizational learning’, Leadership Organization Development Journal, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 212? 234. Brown, J. Isaacs, D. 1997, ‘Conversation as a core business process’, The Systems Thinker, vol. , no. 10, pp. 1? 6. Clarke, S. 2006, ‘Safety climate in an automobile manufacturing plant: the effects of work environment, job communication and safety attitudes on accidents and unsafe behaviour’, Personnel Review, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 413? 430. Dixon, N. M. 1998, Dialogue at Work. Making Talk Developmental for People and Organizations, Center for Creative Leadership, London. Downs, C. W. Adrian, A. D. 2004, Assessing organizational communication audits, Guilford Press, New York. Gerard, G. Ellinor, L. 001, Dialogue at Work: Skills for Leveraging Collective Understanding, Pegasus Communications, Waltham, MA. Mazutis, D. Slawinski, N. 2008, ‘Leading organisational learning through authentic dialogue’, Management Learning, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 437? 456. Schein, E. 1993, ‘On Dialogue, Culture and organizational learning’, Organizational Dynamics, vol. 22, pp. 40? 51. Swink, M. Way, W. 1995, ‘Manufacturing strategy: propositions, current research, renewed directions’, International Journal of Operations Production Management, vol. 15, no. 7, pp. 4? 26. How to cite Reflective Paper Organisational Dialogue, Essay examples

Essay about Reflective Journal for Business Communication

Question: Discuss about theReflective Journal for Business Communication. Answer: Introduction: The Nature of Intercultural Communication: As stated by Browaeys and Price, (2011) that no cultural pattern is inherently right or wrong. It is a wrong perspective to judge a person with respect to his or her culture or cultural behavior. It is important to focus on a specific culture to communicate with people belonging to other culture. It is important to understand what is actually happening around the world (Chaney Martin, 2011). It is based on the findings, a narrow comparison is made and an intercultural approach can be drawn. I have come up with a number of people who have different cultural background than I have. Once in a meeting with a girl who belonged to India, I got the opportunity of understanding their basic culture and mindset. She came to Australia for pursuing her education. I wanted to know her point of view regarding the difference in culture of the people from her home country and with the people that they are getting acquainted when they are pursuing their education. I have understood that the girl faced lot of trouble in communicating with her peers and classmates. Reading Christopher, (2012), it has been known that there always arises a difficulty among the foreign students to understand the language and accent of the people. In case of Asian students, it can be said that they have the British accent. Australia was also colonial country, but their accent is more inclined like that of the Western countries (Beamer Varner, 2001). Therefore, there automatically arises a situation when certain level of difficulty shall arise as a result of understanding the language. These findings have cleared the concept that culture is nothing but human creation. People adapts to the changes as a part of their environment. Therefore, culture can be easily regarded as a non-biological aspect of life that actually develops as a part of shared meaning and values and norms. Every social system has certain values and norms and this keeps on developing with increasing interaction and communication (Cook Cook, 2011). I have acknowledged that people view the world from their point of view. The spreading of culture has resulted in the formation of an inter-cultural communication that have widened the horizon for better interaction and communication with people around the Globe. There are certain communication barriers as well that include physical environment, linguistic barriers and even competition with other race or ethnic groups of people (Deardorff, 2009). However, there have been several changes in the recent time that has opened the horizon for better intercult ural communication. With the basic understanding I have developed great confidence that helped me to recognize the ethical approaches that one must possess. This understanding shall help me to deal with different situations both in terms of personal as well as professional life. References: Browaeys, M. Price, R. (2011). Understanding cross-cultural management. Harlow: Pearson. Chaney, H. C. Martin, J. S. (2011). Intercultural Business Communication. 6th edition. Upper Saddle River:Pearson Prentice Hall. Christopher, E. (2012). Communication across cultures. Palgrave Macmillan. Cook, R. A. Cook, G. O. (2011). Guide to Business Etiquette. 2nd edition. Boston: Prentice Hall. Deardorff, D. K. (2009). The Sage Handbook of intercultural competence. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Behavioral Interview Assignment Essays (1357 words) - Marketing

Rusy Riggs BUS 271 Dr. Julia Welch 6/10/201 8 Behavioral Interview Assignment Job Title /Field : Integrated Marketing Communication s Brief Description : IMC is the use of marketing strategies to optimize the communication of a consistent message of the company's brands to stakeholders. The Interviewee : My interview subject was Ms. Ann Becker , who works at Entergy and as adjunct IMC faculty at Ole Miss. I met Ms. Becker as a neighbor here in the Oxford area. As someone currently both working and teaching within the IMC arena, Ms. Becker is well qualified to give insight into my future career. F ollowing are my questions and Ms. Becker's responses. How did you get interested in a career in IMC and tell me a little about what you do today? Mrs. Becker started out in publishing, she stated she was the editor of Mississippi Magazine for a number of years. She moved from working within primarily a printed platform to public relations, media relations and promotions for a variety of companies. For the past 12 years she has worked for Entergy, a Fortune 500 company. In this capacity her primary focuses are corporate social responsibility and environmental improvements and sustainability. These are all important positive messages for Entergy to communicate to its stakeholders. She creates an integrated strategy whereby they promote their key messages across numerous platforms. This could occur via a video, via social media messaging, an employee news story or a newsletter. Her job, basically, is to create this content and manage the distribution of the content across a wide variety of platforms. She moved into IMC as a career using a solid base of experience in writing, editing and storyt elling as a springboard. What degrees do you have and where are they from? Also, what year did you graduate? Ms. Becker stated she has a BS degree in English Literature and an MBA, both from Millsaps College. She also has participated in a sustainability certification program at Yale University and will be doing further work at Columbia University later this year. She earned her undergraduate degree in 1984 and her MBA in 2015. Have you always worked in IMC, or did you work in other fields before? Even at the beginning of her career when she worked at Mississippi Magazine they had a very small staff, so though it was not her primary job she had responsibility for promotion and media management. In addition to creating the product they were also responsible for promoting it, so essentially , she was performing IMC responsibilities even back then. What do you like most about IMC as a career, and what do you like least? Ms. Becker stated she likes that it is constantly changing and evolving, so you have to continue to learn to be effective. She also said she likes that there are many different tools and approaches you can take to accomplish the objectives, so there isn't just one set way to get the job done. She sees IMC as a combination of art and science as there is a very important creative factor, but you must also be able to properly utilize technology to effectively distribute the messages across all the various platforms. The field has a broad scope. She further stated that anyone working in IMC has a broad view of the company, making them an excellent resource, both within and outside their department. As to what she liked least, she said there often aren't enough hours in the day to pursue all the ideas she has, and sometimes technology can be a limitation if the proper systems aren't in place. How strong do you consider job prospects for new IMC graduates right now? Job prospects are very strong, especially for those who are really good at creating content , those who have a good handle on search engine optimization, and those who are comfortable in the visual platforms. Also important is staying current to learn new technologies and tools. In your experience, are there particular cities or areas of the country that are strongest for IMC graduates to find jobs right now? Ms. Becker said she does not think there's really a geographic hub

CREATING A NARRATED BOOK TRAILER

CREATING A NARRATED BOOK TRAILER I wanted a book trailer to promote my third picture book, Silly Frilly Grandma Tillie, illustrated There were two books I consulted before undertaking the creation of the trailer: Katie Daviss ebook, â€Å"How to Promote Your Children’s Book† and Darcy Pattison’s ebook, â€Å"The Book Trailer Manual†. My goal wasn’t to replicate the text of the story in the trailer, but to give viewers a feel for the characters and the plot in a very short space of time- an oral summary. The publisher’s blurb for the book was a helpful starting point but it was directed to adults. My script needed to be more child friendly and shorter. Both Davis and Pattison recommend keeping trailers to a minute or less; Pattison says images should not be on screen for more than five seconds. The final (I thought) version of the script read like a mini-movie- for each â€Å"scene† was a visual image (one of Anne Jewett’s fabulous illustrations), followed For those who are technologically challenged, like me, the website lynda.com is a good source for tutorials on using iMovie and Garage Band- a month of lessons was well worth the twenty-five dollar fee. Recording voiceovers in GarageBand is relatively simple- follow a few steps and controls will appear with record, play and rewind functions that operate like any standard recording device. Though the editing options on GarageBand are much more detailed, even a non-techie like me could easily shorten or remove sections of audio clips. The greater challenge was getting my voice right. Writing each line of script on a notecard and taping the notecard to the top of my screen was helpful, as were underlining the words I wanted to emphasize and indicating whether my voice should rise or lower at the end of a line (professional voice artists definitely deserve respect). Despite all this work, when the audio was incorporated into iMovie, there was a major problem- my audio still took up too much space. I eliminated some sound effects and some spoken lines. To more easily match the length of the narration with the corresponding image, I recorded the voiceovers directly in iMovie. This again was simple to do- select the microphone image and click on the record button. There is a three second delay until the recording begins. Repeating the first word of my line several times during this delay helped eliminate awkward pauses and throat clearing noises when I began speaking. The process of creating a narrated book trailer for the first time took many hours, but it was well worth the effort. I learned how to make podcasts, how to edit video clips, how to combine images and sound. Trust me, if I can do it, you can too! You can view the trailer on my website at www.laurieajacobs.com

Bibliography Annotated Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Annotated Bibliography Example This essay will discuss John F Kennedy as one of the widely known international figures who fought for social justice fearlessly. John F Kennedy is one of the most mythologized figures in contemporary American history who was known for his debonair good looks, oratory skills and charismatic persona. Kennedy is also termed as one of the 20th century’s most memorable presidents who left a legacy that continues to enjoy the spotlight up to date. He was born in a rich, Irish-Catholics family that was connected to politics (Pascale 60). He and his eight siblings enjoyed a privileged childhood of elite private schools, sailboats, servants, and summer homes even though he used to suffer frequent serious illnesses during his childhood and youth (Bryant 28). Despite health challenges, Kennedy strove to make his own way whereby he wrote one of the best-selling books while still at Harvard and volunteered for hazardous combat obligation in the Pacific during World War II. Serving in the World War II made Kennedy a hero after which he quitted and worked as journalist for a short spell, and later entered into politi cs where he served in the House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 and the Senate from 1953 to 1961. John F Kennedy become the president of the United States of America during some of the most tumultuous years of the 1960’s civil rights movement that was led by renowned civil rights activists like Dr Martin Luther King Jr (Dudziak 58). Civil right movement was fighting for equality for persons of African-American origin and Kennedy give the movement an ample support. As a matter of fact, many admirers think of Kennedy in terms of his youthful vibrancy, his popularity amongst the people and his commitment to social justice, especially for African-Americans. He was elected as the US president in 1960 partly

Do Dress Codes For Girls Protect Or Sexualize Them Essay

Do Dress Codes For Girls Protect Or Sexualize Them - Essay Example The various strategies and measures to introduce dress codes that seek to provide containment are often explicitly or implicitly targeting only girls, despite the presence of baggy clothes for young boys that do not fit social norms (Rosenberg, 2014).   This controversy has been in the public limelight since 2000 to date and has amassed an enormous debate on the matter. The increased debate has led to the emergence of specific vocabulary given to girls that wear revealing clothes such as â€Å"Les nombrils† or â€Å"navel rings.†The terms just get worse and crude as many people, encompassing adolescent boys and other girls refer to them as â€Å"sluts.† The writer apologizes for the term. That is, the popular imagery developed due to the social discourse of girls’ dress and hyper-sexualization has become part of our collective representations (Willett, 2008).   Stigmatization has increased immensely has the debate on girls’ clothes and sexuality seem not to be diminishing. The debate holds two sides with the one hand holding the notion that dress codes are critical in ensuring the moral being of the society whereas opponents arguing that these dress codes seem to sexualize the girl child. Thus, this paper presents perspectives from both sides of the debate and their reasons. Notably, the document does not in any way represent the personal opinions of the writer or try to recommend a better solution for the problem. The paper analyzes the major points on the problem at hand to elucidate on the issue of girls’ dress code and sexuality (Willett, 2008).   An in-depth look at how this debate is framed from year to year in the media reveals two major aspects: girls are either positioned as manipulated victims or social disturbance. Many people have come out to express how they feel that these girls dress in a suggestive, inappropriate and offensive way in high school and some situations in primary schools.

Rectifying Issues in Corrections Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Rectifying Issues in Corrections - Essay Example Among the most influential methods of reducing prison overcrowding, include developing community-based alternatives to incarceration as means of reducing the prison population and reviewing the prison designs (Salins & Simpson, 2013). John Howard, 200 years ago while writing about prison reforms at that time-expressed concern for the destructive effects of such poor conditions on inmates. While in many ways prison conditions have considerably improved, some of the problems that were faced in the past are still present in the current correctional systems. Overcrowding has continued to haunt United States jail and prison as the pressures of an increasing inmate population affected the correctional facilities, coupled with the corrections cost for lower demands, have resulted in living space for inmates growing shortage. Not only do institutions exceed capacity but they also operate at maximum. Inmates are increasingly forced into living in open dormitories and single cells double-bunki ng (James, 2013). Effects of overcrowding studies on inmates have meant describing and defining what crowding basic effects can have on humans, with most of the done research concentrating mostly on social density and spatial density of crowding. The definition of spatial density is viewed as the amount of space in a particular housing unit available per person. On the other hand, the definition of social density is described as the factor, which contributes most to the adverse effects of crowding and number of individuals sharing a housing unit. Total effects of crowding, however cannot be explained by just density alone, researchers like physical environment and personal control have found other factors that heighten or lessen the density impact (James, 2013). Addressing Overcrowding Many corrections researchers and officials agree it is not realistic to solve and expect the overcrowding problem solely through constructing newer and more facilities. In the United States, an increa sed focuses on the reduction of the correctional facilities population, whether in the future or currently with alternatives to incarceration, such as intermediate sanctions and community supervision that range from fines to parole release has been noted. However, this has proved to be a challenging and more complex route than that of corrections facilities redesigning the physical environments. An example of this implementation in the Canadian correctional services shows that to correct the overcrowding, they have established five strategic corporate objectives to implement a strategy for community supervision, to develop differential standards that will enable community case workers to focus greater attention on high-risk offenders. Other objectives include continuing effective population management, developing policies that will allow more low-risk offenders to be released at their earliest parole eligibility date and develop better policies with regard to those individuals ident ified as good parole risks (Johnson & Johnson, 2012). To the overcrowding issue, researchers in the United States have explored alternative responses and called into question some of the assumptions about the reasons for correctional overcrowding and the effectiveness of community-based alternatives to i

Drug Trafficking Is A Common Economics Essay

Drug Trafficking Is A Common Economics Essay Drug trafficking is a common trade in Mexico. Owing to its geographical location, Mexico strategic position in terms of drug supply, market demand, and distribution, the barons enjoy huge profits from the trade. Mexico neighbors Columbia, which is the world largest cocaine producer, and the U.S., which is a leading consumer of illicit drugs. Drug Trafficking Organizations in Mexico have a large network of illicit drugs supply. The Mexican laws against drug trafficking pose a major threat to the US drug customers since the laws threaten to cut down the drug trafficking avenues. However, the drug trafficking organizations are well organized and distinguished in order to conceal their illicit activities. This paper addresses similarities between the operations and activities of Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) and those of legitimate international businesses. Mostly, the drug trafficker pose as money launders in order to invest their vast sums of cash obtained from the trade  [1]  This serves as a disguise since; they are able to channel their money to different investments, such as money laundering  [2]  .Like the international trade, the drug trafficking business is well- organized, with various marketing networks around the world. Drug trafficking is a business operation whose marketing techniques include smuggling, extortion, and threat, product line, and other outlawed items. The drug trafficking business is similar to a legitimate business venture, and sometimes has a corporate executive organizational structure, with support staff  [3]  The illegal business of drug trafficking survives due to pretense of undertaking legitimate business or through infiltration of legitimate business. In case of infiltration, the drug trafficking business operators use techniques such as protection rackets and immunity. Drug trafficking is a booming business in Mexico, where is it conducted by drug cartels and the Mexican Mafia. The cartels are not declared as terrorists, and this hinders the action of the American law enforcement and financial regulation on the Mexican borders  [4]   Seven drug cartels operate in Mexico. They are Sinaloa, Los Zetas, Arellano Felix organization, Beltran Levya, New Federation, and Familia Michoacana (LFM) cartels  [5]  . These cartels are illustrated as global businesses with backward and forward connections, for supplying and distributing their products in other countries  [6]  . As businesses, their main concern is supplying the markets with the illicit drugs in a most efficient manner in order  [7]  to increase their profits. This is a popular strategy, used by terrorist organizations, which engage in legal business, in order to fund their operations illegally or legally around the world. The Gulf Cartel emerges as a powerful drug cartel in profitability and territory. Los Zetas is extremely dangerous since it is made up of ex militaries from Mexican Airborne, who acts as assassins. Sinaloa Drug Trafficking Organization is more aggressive with an aim of controlling Drug Trafficking Organizations in Mexico. The LFM is a combination of criminal, social, and religious aspects, which leaves no marks on the corpses, and the crime scene, thus their actions are known as the divine justice acts  [8]  . Mexican cartels have various sub-divisions, with a vertical chain of command, originating from Mexico. The organization has surrogates throughout the U.S., who runs daily operations in the different countries. Mexican operators issue guidelines concerning transport of drugs, warehousing and money laundering services. Legitimate international businesses are well organized with their operations based in many countries. There is a chain of command in every business in order to avoid chaos and maintain uniformity in the operations. Use of violence is a common strategy, used by the gangs in order to protect their trading interests. However, these activities are carefully executed in order to avoid being caught. The aim is to create terror, which seeks to belittle the government ability to provide adequate security to the citizens. The drug traffickers in Mexico aim at undermining the government, in order to carry out their illicit trade activities without any threats from the authority. They want to create a free market in disguise, and fight for this freedom indirectly. Legitimate trade operates with minimal restrictions from the government and the drug traffickers want to acquire the status. There are willing buyers, and many people are using drugs such as heroin and cocaine, which the Mexican drug traffickers are willing to supply  [9]  .Legitimate international trade has willing buyers and sellers. Drugs have ready markets especially in the United States, with the suppliers having distributors in these regions. Their connections in the global context assist them to distribute the drugs easily. Legitimate international businesses have embraced globalization and can conduct their business freely in any country. They build customer trust and relationship, which enables customers to trust and conduct business with the dealers regardless of the distance. The drug traffickers practice social corporate responsibility in order to fulfill the ethical obligations, just as the legitimate international businesses do. LFM is known for its various donations such as Medicare, food, and school fees in aid for the poor. The drug barons aid the vulnerable and poor in the society in order to expose an inefficient government and damaged infrastructure  [10]  .This is a cover up of their real activities, and the public may mistake them for honest traders with an intention of reaching out to the community. They pretend to be practicing social corporate responsibility in order to disguise themselves. The cartels are dangerous and powerful and can outweigh the military and legitimate police. The illicit trade organizes its activities in a systematic manner, and carries out market research concerning the trade and are well versed with the risks involved  [11]  This is a similar scenario with many legitimate international businesses. The most targeted include vulnerable governments. There is a lot of illicit drugs flow from Mexico to the United States, and both states engage in the blame game concerning the predicament. The drugs have causes several deaths in the last few years, and the Mexican government is wary about the issue  [12]  . They have put up several strategies in order to combat the illicit drug trafficking trade. In order to combat drug trafficking effectively, Mexico advances anti-money laundering strategies in order to combat transnational organized crime  [13]  . Money laundering avails a lot of money to drug barons who re-use it for illicit drug trafficking  [14]  .Money laundering prevention, and dealing with financial terrorism is one of the comprehensive strategies of dealing with organized crime. Legitimate International businesses are against money laundering activities. The Mexico government realizes the dire need to attack the economic power of the drug traffickers in order to weaken them  [15]  .Mexico strives to enhance its bilateral cooperation with other countries in order to combat drug trafficking. Drug traffickers disguise their vast income in money laundering activities  [16]   The drug traffickers center around drug trade, and attempt to fill a specific illegal market niche globally. Legitimate international businesses attempt to supply goods that have willing buyers in the global markets. Illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine are used by many people around the world, thus the drug barons aggressiveness in meeting the demands. Furthermore, the business is extremely lucrative with high profitability  [17]  . Legitimate international businesses are expected to achieve high profitability. Drug trafficking activities are influenced by factors such as politics, culture, geography, and economics, just like the legitimate international trade  [18]   Mexico is geographically located at a strategic location since it neighbors Columbia, which is one of the most significant world cocaine producers. This makes Mexico to acquire the drugs easily and supply them in the market. On the other hand, the drug dealers have distribution channels in different countries, which enable the goods to reach consumers. The Mexican drug dealers mainly focus on the drug trade, since it is more profitable, and their geographical location favors the trade. Market attractiveness of drug trafficking and the strategic positioning of Mexico enables it to engage in illicit drug trafficking. Drug trafficking takes advantage of the international supply chains, and weak governance in order to introduce the illicit products to the market. The demand for drugs is high and this makes the drug traffickers aggressive in satisfying these markets. Drug trafficking is increasing at an alarming rate, with Mexico experiencing over 47,000 deaths because of drug abuse  [19]  . The drug traffickers have adequate funds and arms, thus presenting a threat to the national security. The barons derive their competitive advantage from factors such as access and control of drug smuggling paths across the U.S., and the ability to obtain, transport and sell major illicit drugs in Mexico. Mexican drug traffickers conduct their trade with great professionalism and ability. They are highly profitable and earn a lot of annual income for the country, just like most legitimate international businesses  [20]  .Most of the drug dealers in Mexico are motivated by money  [21]  .The barons seek to maximize the profit at any prospect and reduce their danger of being caught, or detected. Money is a crucial element in every formal and informal organization and legal or illegal enterprises. Drug traffickers receive a lot of money from their trade, which they invest in money laundering services  [22]  . This empowers them and provides them with the courage to challenge the states institutions and the economic development of a country. Traffickers change their strategies constantly through devising new sources, destinations, and transit zones. Law enforcers fail to deal with the international issues effectively, and the world does not possess effective global strategies f or curbing perennial crimes such as cocaine and heroin trade. The issues originating from organized transnational crime are not adequately addressed in a global context  [23]   According to Olson Wilson, Mexico reported an approximated U.S. $6.2 billion  [24]  , from illicit drug export proceedings. Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations activities and operations strive to create diplomatic relationships with other countries in order to combat drug trafficking. Drug traffickers operate in a large chain or drug racket, in a different destination. Mexico has to collaborate with other nations in order to crack down the operations. Similarly, legitimate international businesses have to cultivate positive relationships with other countries in order to carry out businesses in those countries. It is hard for a country to combat drug trafficking single-handedly, without the help of the international community. The Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTO, s), poses a major threat to the drug traffickers especially from the United States, since it is believed that the main customers are from the United States. Although the drug traffickers are not interested in overthrowing the Mexican government, they are keen on weakening the government in order to continue their operations without any interference from the state  [25]  . In order to facilitate their activities in the US, the drug traffickers from Mexico have formed alliances with United States prison and street gangs. These gangs are responsible for drug distribution in the United States  [26]  . According to Shanty et al, illicit drug trafficking has caused many social problems  [27]  ; hence it requires more severe measures to combat.  [28]  Released by Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Gil Kerlikowske set out goals in many of these areas. The strategy directs federal Agencies to increase coordination and information sharing with state and local law Enforcement agencies, intensifies national efforts to interdict the southbound flow Of weapons and bulk currency, and calls for continued close collaboration with the Government of Mexico in their efforts against the drug cartels.  [29]  Therefore even with the governments efforts to minimise illegal drug trafficking, cartels will always look for loopholes in the system, including using corrupt border officers. The cartels control the trafficking of drugs from South America to the US, a business that is worth an estimated $13bn ( £9bn) a year. Their power grew as the US stepped up anti-narcotics operations in the Caribbean and Florida. A US state department report estimated that as much as 90% of all cocaine consumed in the US comes via Mexico.  [30]  One reason why the government has deployed the army and marines so extensively is that it feels the police cannot be trusted. Drug cartels with massive resources at their disposal have repeatedly managed to infiltrate the underpaid police, from the grassroots level to the very top  [31]   Globalisation aids international trade, although it provides an opportunity for smugglers and traffickers due to an increase in trade regulation difficulties  [32]  Globalisation increases inequality, and this has a disruptive effect, which causes people to resolve to illicit markets, and organized crime as survival mechanisms. Illicit commerce has made a quick global spread in comparison with legal trade. Most transnational crimes begin in one continent and spreads to the others, mostly by a third means  [33]  . This makes it extremely hard to combat such perianal crimes. This was satisfied in a published article: While the Mexican federal government periodically cracked down on drug trafficking, these operations were limited in size and scope  [34]  . Conclusion The operations and activities of Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) mirror those of legitimate international businesses in many respects. This ranges from their organizational structures to the marketing strategies. The drug trafficking enterprises practice socio-corporate responsibility in order to help the vulnerable people in the society. However, this is only used with an intention of undermining the government prowess and serves as a disguise for their criminal activities. The efforts of the Mexican government have been challenged because the drug rackets are powerful and interconnected in the global circles especially the United States, which is a strong hold market position. Drug trafficking business has various similarities arising from organizational structure, marketing and profitability. Mexico is strategically positioned, in terms of market supply and demand factors, which increases its profitability, and attractiveness. However, the illicit trade has caused many deaths ranging from consumption related deaths to law enforcers death. The dealers can do anything in order to protect their interests.

Analysis of Marks Gospel Essay -- essays research papers fc

This research assignment aims to analyse and interpret an influential part of the New Testament – Mark’s Gospel. An analysis of Mark and his community will be discussed as well as interpreting Jesus’ teachings and his significant theme of Discipleship as it was then and in present society. A Gospel in general, is a textual document written in narrative form of the good news and teachings proclaimed by Jesus to announce the power of God. Mark’s Gospel is one of four others (Matthew, Luke and John), where each Gospel has its differences in structure, language and theological slants. Mark’s Gospel is divided into three main sections: The Ministry of Jesus, Jesus’ prologue of foretelling his Passion, and his Passion and Death. Mark set out on a mission of God to carry on the word of Jesus with Paul, where Mark was traditionally known to be closely linked to one of Jesus’ disciples – Peter, which many of the stories in the Gospel relate to his perspective and point of view. Much of Mark’s stories may have originated from Peter through oral transfer (as it was common in those times) and discussions with Paul, as well as accounts from the Old Testament. Mark’s community mainly consisted of Gentiles who lived in Rome as opposed to Jesus followers in Israel who were Jews. Gentiles are classified as people of any religion that are not Jewish, and of non-Jewish origins such as the Romans. In particular the Roman Centurion (army officer) who professed that Jesus was truly the Son of God (15:39), is one of many reasons that suggest Mark’s community to be Gentile. This is a significant part in the Passion narrative, as the Centurion – being a Gentile is one of the first people to have faith and believe in Jesus after his death, which is relevant to the Kingdom of God. Also, many of Jewish customs are explained for non-Jewish followers as well as Mark’s translation of Latin words written in Greek (Mark: A Gospel for Today, 1989). Mark’s community endured much suffering under the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero that was persecuting Christians for practicing their Monotheistic faith and preaching the word of Jesus. For Mark’s community, in continuing the word of Jesus and to spread the good news, the people faced many difficulties as to convert to Christianity. These barriers included the geographical differences of Rome and Jerusalem as well as having their own opinions... ...l their possessions behind to follow Jesus. Though Discipleship does not result in poverty, but living a true live in accordance with God, and the Messiah. However, recontextualised in modern contexts - priests have also undergone this concept and discarded monetary values to serve under the authority of Jesus and to spread the good news and give guidance to those who are lost, just as Jesus’ disciples did. Nevertheless, this does not stipulate the right for people in such high ranks of ‘Holiness’ to exclude or criticize others’ views, and to make unaccountable judgments on the behalf of God. We should persist on the tolerance and respect of other’s viewpoints. This theme also gives hope to ‘Jesus Followers’ that it is not the end for God’s people. Written By: Marcus Huynh Copyright Bibliography: Danes, Christopher & Simon. (1989) Mark: A Gospel for Today. Lion Publishing, England. Geddes, Gordon & Griffiths, June. (2001) St. Mark’s Gospel. Heinemann Publishing, Melbourne. Cooper, Robin. (1970) Mark’s Gospel: An Interpretation for Today. Hodder & Stoughton, Abington. Available: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rsposse/marcanpassrb.htm. Last Accessed 22/05/05

English speeches Essay

Reading selectively or extensively Honorable judges, good morning/afternoon .I am glad to stand here and give you a short speech .Today my topic is reading selectively or extensively .I deeply hope you will like it. As we all know, reading is a tradition inherited from ancient society which has a long history. Whether to read selectively or extensively has been a common question discussed by people from very ancient time. Some people tend to choose to read selectively. Having received a book they waited for a long time, they will get started reading this book with a devout heart. What they commonly do is to dead between the lines. Of course this has its own advantages. A selective reading can contribute to a better understanding of the whole book. Furthermore, when you analyze the passage, chances are that you may have the same sympathetic visage with the author, that is, you are going into the scene that the author endeavoring to describe to all readers, which is quite a sense of achievement. On the contrary, other people prefer to read extensively rather than selectively. They are not satisfied to read just several books due to what they want is a substantial number of various books. Opinion they hold is that extensive reading is beneficial to broaden the horizons. After reading a large quantity of books, their experiences are enriched, their thoughts are more specific, their minds are more mature. So to speak, extensive reading plays a vital important role in their growth. There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes. Owing to different people all have their different characteristics, people’s choices are made differently. Choosing to read selectively or extensively doesn’t mean you are true or false, what matters is whether you have chosen the choice which just properly fits yourself. That’s all. Thank you for listening. On trying to renew knowledge Honorable judges, good morning/afternoon .I am glad to stand here and give you a short speech .Today my topic is on trying to renew knowledge. I deeply hope you will like it. As the famous saying goes:† Knowledge is power.†, knowledge existed and it is inherited up till now from very ancient time. So to speak, when human beings came into being, knowledge came into being. However, at the same time, between knowledge there are both essence as well as dross. That means what we need to do now is trying to renew knowledge.  From my point of view, this process can be a complicated one. First of all, it’s of vital importance for us to sharpen our eyes to distinguish the essence and dross in knowledge, which plays a significant role in the process. Second, it matters that we ought to do it neither reluctantly nor with a special purpose. That is, on trying to renew knowledge, we should take it in accordance with its natural tendency following the development of the whole society. Last but not least, receiving enough knowledge and keeping pace with the development of culture and civilization is the final step of the process. Renewing knowledge is not a realistic process but should be done in the practical way. On trying to renew knowledge, we may undergo troubles from work and life, misunderstanding from family and friends, difficulties and frustrations from the process its own. However, never giving in to it is just the right choice. Difficult and complicated as it may be, if we don’t realize the importance of renewing knowledge, we may never do a proper job on trying to renew knowledge. That’s all. Thank you for your listening. Online shopping Honorable judges, good morning/afternoon .I am glad to stand here and give you a short speech .Today my topic is online shopping. I deeply hope you will like it. With the development of science and technology, online shopping is becoming more and more popular between young people. Because of its convenience and efficiency as well as high qualities bargains, young people tend to conduct online shopping more instead of shopping in practical malls. Having chosen commodities they want to buy and do some clicks randomly, what they need is just to wait at home and the express delivery companies will bring it to your house. Online shopping is just a symbol of social progress , which shows the development of people’s living standard secondhand. On the contrary, online shopping certainly has its disadvantages. For instance, all processes are completed on the Internet while we couldn’t see the exact commodity on our eyes, which may result in counterfeit articles. What’s worse, owing to the uncertainty of the Internet, there may be a substantial number of hoaxes you can’t even realize waiting for you, making you break the bank for the worst result. In brief, it’s of vital importance for us to improve our security awareness and take  some protective measures in the meantime when conducing online shopping. After this specific analysis, we can draw the conclusion that when it comes to online shopping, we must take its merits as well as demerits into consideration. Advantages and disadvantages as it may have, if we only treat this problem from one hand, the result we get might not impartial. Indeed, online shopping is of great benefit to our life if we can use it properly and consequently it can lead to our society becoming more harmonious, that is, online shopping can a thrust to the progress of the whole human society. That’s all. Thank you for your listening. Advantages and disadvantages of the cell phone Honorable judges, good morning/afternoon .I am glad to stand here and give you a short speech .Today my topic is advantages and disadvantages of the cell phone. I deeply hope you will like it. With the development of science and technology and the remarkable improvement of people’s living standard, cell phone is a common commodity appearing in people’s life. In the meantime, cell phone also brings some unexpected advantages and disadvantages. When it come to cell phone’s advantages, we can list as follows. It’s obvious that it can provide us with plenty of convenience and efficiency, which disposes many troubles caused by distance. Thanks to cell phone, nowadays we just contact with family and friends at anytime and anywhere we like. Furthermore, activities such as surfing the Internet, listening to music, watching TV dramas and so on are conducted portably on the cell phone instead of the computer. Recently, many cell phones are used as wallets owing to advanced information technology. However, from another perspective, every coin has its two sides, cell phone also has its inevitably disadvantages. For instance, the ring of cell pone may have a bad effect on others, which makes them distracted and disturbed. What’s worse, over using your cell phone means wasting your time, contributing to a negative and pessimistic attitude. Last but not least, you may tend to decrease your time for exercising and taking part in various activities so as to play on your cell phone, which not only is bad for your health, but also does great harm to your work and study. In conclusion, cell phone and even everything have their own advantages and disadvantages. What we should do is to take an impartial attitude towards it. Never shut the door against  it nor extremely indulge in it. Only when we truly follow this can we make a full use of it. That’s all. Thank you for your listening. No man is rich enough to buy back his past Honorable judges, good morning/afternoon .I am glad to stand here and give you a short speech .Today my topic is no man is rich enough to buy back his past. I deeply hope you will like it. When we were children, we were told that when we had done something wrong we should never regret it because no man is rich enough to buy back his past. As I am growing more mature , I gradually understand the true meaning of this saying. As the famous saying goes: where there is a will, there is a way. That is, if you can spare no effort to achieve your original goal, no matter whether you can reach it, you will get a sense of achievement because of your effort. It’s the process that you are making effort rather than the final result that really matters. Consequently, there is no need for you to regret an it’s just a waste of time to do that. In our lifelong time, we can’t avoid facing difficulties and frustrations, which are once coped with improperly only resulting in because you can never buy back the past and experience once again. What you can do is merely to cherish every moment you are undergoing and make the most of them. Eating, sleeping, studying, exercising, these unimpressive daily events just consist of our daily life. Only after earnestly going though every step of life can you never need to buy back your past. From another perspective, if you only indulge in regretting what you‘ve done, you may gradually lose heart and interest to live happily. What’s worse, your body is unhealthy, your mind is distracted, your life is irregular. It not only does harm to you physically, but also has a negative impact on your psychology. Life is not plain sailing all the time, we have to deal with numerous troubles. Meanwhile, we will undergo feelings as happy as well as angry, but never regret because no man is rich enough to buy back his past. That’s all. Thank you for your listening.

Latin and United States

Apush Revolution is a huge change of power under a very short period of time. The world revolution comes from the Latin language and is defined as â€Å"a turn around†. It is an overthrow of government by the human population being governed. It is a very sudden event, which can last from 5 months to ten years. Changes occur regardless over a short period of time. America was a revolution whether we like it or not. It went through many changes under such a short period of time, which would consider it a revolution. America has hosted many revolutions. The country itself has been an entire revolution.We still go through many changes as a country, as we grow and build. In addition, America has grown incredibly quick since it was found by Christopher Columbus in 1492. We have become diverse. Take slavery, which was abolished and now nonexistent in this country. We have the ability to change drastically which is a beautiful thing. Standing up for our rights is what has changed our country incredibly. Unfortunately, people claim America was never considered a revolution. These humans do not look deeply under the surface of the situation though. Take all of the arguments and battles that we have been through.Take example, pilgrims settling in America for the first time. They formed communities, to towns. We then populated over the entire United States. Our country is the epitome of change. In conclusion, the United States of America will always be considered a revolution all on its own. Too many changes have occurred in this country for it not to be a revolution. People are welcome to argue the point, but everyone in the end knows the real answer. We should be happy with the fact of our country being able to change so well. It is something not many countries our capable of.

Leadership And Management Skills Portfolio The WritePass Journal

Leadership And Management Skills Portfolio Introduction Leadership And Management Skills Portfolio ).   In this regard, I missed the first finance class because I was attending a meeting at work where I was presenting an important report to senior management. Negotiating as a Client My colleague and I assumed the role of a client negotiating with a software vendor on delivery times and price. As clients, we argued and debated with the software vendor on the relevant issues. For instance, there was prolonged argument and debate on the delivery times because we were considering small insignificant factors on this issue. The outcome was that the arguments related to the main issue of delivery times were largely neglected. Indeed, it is suggested that it is important to have awareness of any insignificant arguments that might derail the negotiation process (Pinet Sander, 2013). In our case, we concentrated on being right rather than winning the arguments associated with the price and delivery times. The negotiation process deviated from the agenda established prior to the meeting with the software vendor.   Consequently, a lot of time was wasted on these arguments and compromises were achieved after a protracted process. Portfolio Section 3 This section presents an action plan for developing my postgraduate, management and leadership skills further. The action plan covers skills required for group leadership, management consultant, appraisal manager, coaching, negotiation, and task prioritization as presented below. Action plan for group leadership skills Objective To improve my skills in leading and managing groups in completion, of course, related tasks Tasks Read and brainstorm with my peers on available literature including books, reputable online articles and journal articles about team leadership. I will focus on literature that looks at leadership functions on the different phases of teams namely the transition and action stages. The transition stage is a time when a group or team focuses on activities associated with the team’s structures, planning tasks, and assessing the performance of the team in terms of the whether the team has the ability of achieving its objectives (Marks, Mathieu Zaccaro, 2001). The specific leadership skills that I will learn about for this phase include defining the mission of the team, goals, and performance standards, structuring responsibilities and roles in the team, and promoting feedback processes (Morgeson et al., 2010). The action stage is where the team or group members are focused on tasks that directly contribute to goal achievement (Marks et al., 2001). In this phase, I will learn relev ant leadership skills including creating a positive climate in the group, encouraging autonomous actions by members, resource acquisition   for the group, problem solving, involvement in the group’s work, and monitoring the group(Morgeson et al., 2010). Discuss with managers and leaders in my workplace about effective approaches for leading and managing groups or teams Evaluation After acquisition of the necessary leadership skills, I will apply to future group assignments in my course work. I will evaluate the acquired group leadership skills by asking my peers to rate my performance as a leader. I will design a checklist where the group members will provide their responses about my overall leadership skills and areas that require improvement. Review date The reading of literature, applying the relevant knowledge to actual practice, and evaluating leadership skills will be reviewed on a regular basis whenever there is a group assignment. Action plan for coaching skills Objective To become a very effective coach Tasks Read books, journal articles, and online publications on the coaching process and the required skills and competencies for this activity followed by a brainstorming exercise with my colleagues. Participate in training in coaching provided by my organisations to equip with necessary skills. Ask a senior manager in my workplace to act as my coach to enable me to understand this process from a practical perspective and model it. Evaluation The knowledge acquired from literature, training, and on-the-practice will be utilised in coaching my peers in coursework on different topics. The performance data that will be collected to establish the level of my effectiveness as a coach will be obtained from interviewing the individual that I will be coaching. Review date Ongoing throughout my course work. Action plan for management consultant skills Objective To enhance my skills as a management consultant Tasks Read available literature on management consultancy and look at case studies on the process of management consultation. After reading alone, I will brainstorm these issues with my study group. Discuss with management consultants within and outside my organisation to learn the criteria for success. Evaluation Evaluation will be based on establishing the extent to which the client is able to achieve desired outcomes in relation to the consultation services I will offer them. This will be achieved by using a questionnaire to ask the clients whether I demonstrate the skills of a management consultant. Review date Ongoing based on management consultancy projects. Action plan for managerial skills in appraisals Objective To improve my skills in conducting performance appraisals Tasks Read widely and brainstorm on skills for performance appraisals. Role playing with my peers on posing the right questions to the individual under appraisal. Discuss with senior managers in my workplace about successfully performing performance appraisals. Evaluation The assessment of my skills in this area will be based on determining to which I successfully complete a performance appraisal. This will involve asking individuals involved in the appraisal process to rate my performance using a checklist. Review date This activity will be completed on a monthly basis. Action plan for negotiation skills Objective To improve my negotiation skills as a client Tasks Reading widely and brainstorming with colleagues on negotiation skills for clients to understand negotiation skills, negotiation phases, and sources of conflict in negotiation process. Engage in role play to assist in clarification of responsibilities and roles in working in a negotiating team. Evaluation Evaluation will involve collecting evidence indicating whether I applied competencies and skills required in negotiating as a client. This will be achieved by interviewing the other parties to the negotiation process to determine the level of my skills in negotiating as a client. Review date This will be completed by February 2015. Action plan for task prioritization Objective To enhance my skills in prioritizing both work and education tasks. Tasks Listing all the tasks that I have to perform on a daily basis in my work and college and categorising them based on their impacts on my work and educational pursuits. Using a personal calendar to plan my tasks. Using a checklist to determine completion of tasks on daily basis. Evaluation Performance in task prioritisation will be evaluated by assessing the extent to which I complete all the tasks required in my workplace and at college. Review date This activity will be completed on a daily basis. Conclusion This reflective work has identified areas that require further development in improving my managerial and leadership skills. Based on this reflective work, it is evident that I lack skills in different areas including leadership, task prioritization, effective coaching, managerial skills in performance appraisal and management consultancy. Therefore, these skills have to be improved to ensure that I am effective as manager and leader. Therefore, action plans for improving the different skills have been presented. It is expected that implementation of the action plans will equip with skills that are applicable to my workplace and educational setting. References Armstrong, M. (2012) Armstrong’s handbook of management and leadership: developing effective people skills for better leadership and management. PA: Kogan Page. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2014). Performance appraisal. [Online]Available from: cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/performance-appraisal.aspx (Accessed: 15 Dec. 14). De Caluwe, L., Reitsma, E. (2010) `Competencies of management consultants: a research study of senior management consultants’, In Buono, A., Jamieson, D (Eds), Consultation for organisational change, pp. 15-40. NC: Information age publishing. Goleman, D. (2006) Social Intelligence: the new science of human relationship. NY: Banam books. Heslin, P., Vandewalle, D. (2011) `Performance appraisal procedural justice: the role of a manager’s implicit person theory’. Journal of Management, vol.37, no.6, pp.1694-1718. Institute of Management Consultants (2014) The management consultancy competency framework. [Online] Available from: imcusa.org/?page=CONSULTINGCOMPETENCY (Accessed: 15 Dec. 14). Jarvis, M. (2005) The psychology of effective learning and teaching. UK: Nelson Thornes Ltd. Maltbia, T., Marsick, V., Ghosh, R. (2014) `Executive and organisational coaching: a review of insights drawn from literature for inform HRD practices’. Advances in Developing Human Resources, vol.16, no.2, pp.161-83. Marks, C., Mathieu, J., Zaccaro, S. (2001) `A temporally based framework and taxonomy of team processes’, Academy of Management Review, vol.26, pp. 356-76. Morgeson, F., DeRue, S., Karam, E. (2010) `Leadership in teams: a functional approach to understanding leadership structures and processes’. Journal of Management, vol.36, no.1, pp.5-39. O’Broin, A., Palmer, S. (2009) `Co-creating an optimal coaching alliance: a cognitive behavioural coaching perspective’. International Coaching Psychology Review, vol.4, no.2, pp.184-94. Pinet, A., Sander, P. (2013) The only negotiation book you’ll ever need. Littlefield Street, MA: Adams Media.

Nutri Natural, Herbal and Vitamin Supplements Research Paper

Nutri Natural, Herbal and Vitamin Supplements - Research Paper Example In addition, many organizations are watching the growth of this demand and competition is already building. Therefore, market positioning and efficiency in marketing company products has become more relevant. For a company such as Nutri that intends to launch their online retail sale of natural, herbal and food vitamins, it is crucial to understand the market dynamics, distribution and the nature of competition within the market to be successful. Notably, the UK food supplements market is complex, and brand positioning is a necessary effort. In the past ten years, it is evident that the demand for supplements and vitamins has grown considerably and is already at a plateau phase. Approximately, the Food and Supplements market will reach $786 million within the next five years. Therefore, there is an opportunity for investment in this industry. UK enjoys stable economic growth and the low rates of unemployment in the country points out that the public have a well-grounded purchasing power (Ritchie 2-7). If this continues in the near future, it is obvious that the food supplements market will grow in tandem with the public demand. To this end, the economic perspective of the US food supplements market favors Nutri’s intention to launch their food supplements market. The social-cultural factors appear to be the main drivers of the demand for food supplements in the UK market. The high rates of obesity and health-related diseases have triggered a sudden change in the diet behavior in the UK. UK is among some of the countries have high rates of health-related diseases in the world due to high consumption of energy-rich foods. This trend has seen many health organizations as well as the government launch public awareness programs in the world to warn the public against unhealthy feeding habits. Consequently, the public is becoming aware of the need to

Muslim World Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Muslim World - Essay Example In other words, Muslims are not at liberty to re-interpret the meaning of the Quran in order to support a religious reformation which embraces the modernization dictated by the twenty-first century. Indeed, as Schuon stresses, the Quran is eternal and its meaning transcends time and space (45). Its meaning does not change subject to our lifestyles or trends but, is unchanged throughout time. The implication, therefore, is that the methodology for interpreting the Quran is consistent, irrespective of the century for which and in which it is being interpreted. Consequently, Muslims today, as in the past and the future, should not question the method by which they can interpret the Quran for greater consistency with a particular century but, the correct methodology for uncovering both the esoteric and exoteric meaning of the Quran, irrespective of any particular century. Moslems should not try to delude themselves into believing that the meaning of the Quran can be adapted to suit the d emands of any specific time but should have faith in God and abide by the timelessness and eternity of His Message through an acceptance of the interpretations of religious scholars. The Quran is the basis of Islam and, as Schuon explicitly states, it is the Furqan (39). The implication here is, and as may be inferred from Schuon's discussion, the Quran is a book of Divine Laws and, as such establishes the difference between the moral and the immoral, the correct and the incorrect paths and, more so, differentiates between believers and non-believers. Indeed, as the Furqan, the Islamic laws and principles which it clearly communicates, and fully explicates, cannot be regarded as subject to flexible interpretations which are dictated by the lifestyles of a particular century. They are timeless and applicable to all ages. For greater emphasis on the virtual impossibility of justifying the modernization of Quranic interpretations for the establishment of greater harmony between the principles, lifestyles and believes particular to the Muslim and the Western worlds, Schuon emphasizes three points. Firstly, the Quran is eternal, written for all times and equally applicable to the past as it is to the present, and shall continue to be in the future. Secondly, the Quran is not subject to modernization, implying the imposition of new trends upon the Quran. Thirdly, given the first two, it is incumbent upon Moslems not to adopt practices that are un-Islamic and subsequently seek their religious legitimization through their supposed Islamicization. Such Islamicization efforts are dependant upon the re-interpretation of Islam in light of modernism and its demands (Schuon). The point that Schuon is making here is that the eternal and Divine nature of the Quran effectively de-legitimize any efforts to argue its irrelevancy to the twenty-first century or to re-interpret it in light of the values and practices that the Muslim world is constantly borrowing and adopting from the West. Largely agreeing with Schoen, Corbin adds his voice to the strictures against Quranic interpretations according to the whims and desires of a people and a particular time. It is, as Corbin emphasizes, the Word of God and, therefore, by the very nature of its Being, Eternal and timeless. It is the basis, the very heart and core of Islam and, more so, is the foundation upon which the unity of the Muslim people is built upon. Attempts to