LENS-DRIVEN Analysis Free Essay Example, 1250 words

Various endeavors are attempted with the sole intention of subjugating the aliens. Their appearance is considered in terms of an intrusion in a world of hybrids. There are fears that the aliens might infect the locals with strange diseases. It is partly because of this reason that Wikus transformation is considered as some kind of an STD infection by the aliens. This deliberate and systematic subjugation of the aliens testifies to humanity’s inherent weaknesses, which usually shields them from engaging in any meaningful ventures or associations with people who appear to be different from them. It is within this symbolic illustration that the discourses of discrimination, ethnic balkanization, racial profiling, and gender discrimination have to be understood. One of the most important aspects of this film is that it attends to the discourse of the ‘self’ and the ‘other’ from multiple dimensions. For instance, the portrayal of Obesandjo could be unders tood in terms of a deliberate revisiting of the testy relationships and the psychological divisions, which led the white supremacists to attach qualities of cannibalism to the black native. Obesandjo is brought into the film as a representative of the negative stereotypes that are often lumped on the black race. We will write a custom essay sample on LENS-DRIVEN Analysis or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Obesandjo represents the images of barbarism, violence, and greed, which have often been reserved to the black man in Sub-Saharan Africa. He is also represented as backwards and unable to sustain any logical processes in his mind. His worldview is governed by violence and myths. He believes that by eating Wiku’s hand, he will finally find the means to the ultimate answer to his problems. Cohen argues that the desire to destroy a group or individual must begin with some deliberate misrepresentation of facts about the individual in order to justify any form of ill-treatment. According to Cohen, this trend remains consistent in multiple discourses that are represented within the discourse of racism. Colonialism, racism, and conquest are all dependent on this tendency of converting an opponent into some kind of a monster that must be killed or conquered. In the essay, A Quilt of a Country, Anna Quindlen explores the problematic nature of the American society in terms of its tumultuous past of sharp racial divisions and the underlying psychological strains that affect the racial associations. The survival of the American nation is a mystery, as the country appears to thrive despite of itself. In some sense, the author paints the picture of the American society as some kind of a faà §ade that hides the undercurrents of racial tensions and the subliminal unease by the dominant white race regarding the possibility of minorities gaining power.

Forensic Science And Criminal And Civil Law Enforcement

The history of the use of forensic science in criminal cases in the United States is well over a century old. With the growth of society, the outcry to reduce crime, law enforcement agencies have taken decisive measures to minimize crime, and in doing so, turned to the scientific community for assistance, and technical support. As such, criminal investigation revolves around three particular questions: 1. who committed the crime? This question is answered based on witnesses, and evidence collection and comparison, 2. how was the crime committed? This question is answered based the use of scientific fields (forensic science) to assess any evidence, and 3. whether the crime could have been committed? This question is answer based on expert testimony in court. These three questions revolve around a particular scientific field, called forensic science (Shelton, 2011). So what is forensic science? Defined, forensic science is â€Å"the application of science to criminal and civil law s enforced by law enforcement agencies in the criminal justice system.† It is an applied science often called â€Å"criminalistics† (Saferstein, 2009). Furthermore, it is believed that Sherlock Holmes the fictional character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (a British author) was the influence behind the scientific methods of detection. Sherlock Holmes is credited with being the first to apply the principles of serology, fingerprints, identification ofShow MoreRelatedForensic Criminology : Forensic Psychology And Psychologists822 Words   |  4 PagesForensic Psychology and Psychologists Forensic psychologists are helpful in many criminal investigations as well as civil investigations. These types of psychologists must have advanced knowledge in many areas such as clinical psychology, forensic science, and many legal matters. Their main job is to aid in police investigations and/or assist as an expert witness in both criminal and civil trials. Forensic psychology is a major part of psychology because it helps define who a criminal is andRead MoreWhat Is Digital Forensics and What Role Does It Play in Modern Society?1089 Words   |  5 PagesPaper #1 What is digital forensics and What role does it play in modern society? by Joseph M. Williams jwilliams@champlain.edu By submitting this assignment I acknowledge that I have read and agree to abide by the Champlain College Academic Honesty Policy. I declare that all work within this assignment is my own or appropriately attributed. I accept that failure to follow the academic honesty policy may result in a failure grade, or expulsion from Champlain College. Date Due: _1/20/13______ Read MoreForensic Psychology And The Human Mind And Its Functions1627 Words   |  7 PagesPsychology and law at first glance are not two terms that seem to correspond with each other. One might even question why they would be mentioned in the same context. Crime has become a major issue within today’s society. It seems as though the only way to prevent most of them is to enforce the repercussions of the act and punish those that partake in it. Criminals often have motives or attributes that lead them into a life of crime. Forensic psychology is the cynosure that brings the associationRead MoreA Career in Criminal Justice1213 Words   |  5 Pageswere choice to patrol the streets for any trouble that might arise had some to no experience regarding law enforcement or policing. EDUCATION Educational programs in criminal justice are placed within two core groups. One core group being a degree-granting programs that are focused on psychology, sociology, and law in courses. The other group focused on programs and courses for the law enforcement specialist, which is often taught at professional schools or adult education placements. However, asRead MoreUse of Technology to Fight Crime Essay1018 Words   |  5 Pagescrime-fighting tool. No, science has not yet built us a Robocop and we cannot see into the future. Not yet anyways. But science and technology have given us many other incredible and powerful crime-fighting/solving mechanisms. It is not surprising that technological advances are being utilized all over the country, as well as the world, to fight crime by deterring criminals as well as catching them after the act. Throughout history, detectives have searched for the perfect method of catching law breakers. WhetherRead MoreCriminal Justice and Security Goals an d Challenges1450 Words   |  6 Pagesand local law enforcement agencies differ in what they can each handle. As a whole, they have the objective to protect and serve the public, but separately, each branch, federal, state, and local handles their own sections of the government services. For example, the federal law enforcement agencies have goals and objectives that involves the protecting of our border, making sure that we are enforcing customs regulations, as well as upholding immigration laws. The state law enforcement goals andRead MoreForensic Science Investigators 1153 Words   |  5 PagesKids in high school traditionally have a relatively low interest in science because they might think its boring, or tedious, but when you put something forensic behind it, it makes things more exciting. â€Å"Forensic scientists assist various law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and internationally†(Corey). Most police investigations begin at the scene of a crime. The scene is simply defined as the actual site or location in which the crime took place. The entire investigation hangsRead MoreEssay on Forensic Science1603 Words   |  7 Pages Forensic Science, also known as Forensics, is the application of science to law. It uses highly developed technology to uncover scientific evidence in a variety of fields. Modern forensic science has a broad range of applications. It is used in civil cases such as forgeries, fraud or negligence. The most common use of forensic science is to investigate criminal cases involving a victim, such as assault, robbery, kidnapping , rape, or murder.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Forensic science is also used in monitoringRead MoreCrime and Forensic Psychology1117 Words   |  5 Pagescriminology.  The expectation is to make sure the public understands the facts of law enforcement and to differentiate between the fictions presented in different media outlets.   Please answer the following questions and requirements to write your 4–6-page paper. As you answer each question, you must provide support or evidence that will enhance and empirically prove your answers.  Academic criminal justice articles or real-life criminal justice findings that are found in journals or other academic sources mustRead MoreComputer Forensics : The Integration Of Computer Science And Law1505 Words   |  7 PagesWhat is Computer forensics basically it is the integration of computer science and law to solve crimes. It serves as a branch of digital forensic science and it applies to evidence that is found in computers and digital storage media. Its purpose is to examine digital media through the identification, preservation, collection, analyzation and offering facts and creating opinions based on the digital information. Even if it relates most with many computer crimes computer forensics still can be used

The Popularity of K

The Popularity of K-Pop Essay K-pop is an abbreviation of Korean pop and a musical genre originating in South Korea that is characterized by a wide variety of audiovisual elements. But how did it attain such popularity throughout the world? Throughout the 1990s, various Korean pop artists incorporated American popular music, such as techno and rock in their music. In 1992, the rise of Seo Taiji Boys brought the true turning point in the history of K-pop. Because of catchy rap lyrics and memorable choruses, the famous group achieved commercial success, attracting teenagers and leading to the emergence of so-called idol groups: young boy and girl bands, such as Shinhwa and S. E. S. In the world of K-pop, fans not only enjoy listening to their favorite bands’ music but also fantasize them to the point of ‘worshipping’ them. Just what exactly do idols possess that has the power to transform an ordinary human into an obsessed fan? Aside from the music that K-pop groups produce, there is a myriad of attributes that contribute to their popularity: physical appearance, dance choreography, acting in dramas, appearing in variety shows, modeling in CFs and so on. With an array of new K-pop bands flooding TV screen every day, it is becoming gradually more difficult for the rookies to stand out in the music scene. In order to swiftly gain popularity from the public, they would turn to acting. According to Ock Hyun-ju’s article, ‘Korean Idols Increasingly Dominate Dramas’, the local newspaper Seoul Daily informed that â€Å"idols starred in 32 dramas, or 45. percent, of 71 dramas that aired on three major broadcasters and cable channels this year. Also, there are two reasons why drama producers increasingly seek idols for their shows: idols’ fame and influence† (Ock Hyun-ju, 2014). An official from SBS who agrees with Ham Young-hoon’s reasons to seek idols for drama production said, â€Å"We lack actors and actress in their 20s in the drama scene as most of those with fame and popularity move to the film industry. When we fail to cast one of a few popular 20-something stars, we turn out eyes to idols† (Ock Hyun-ju, 2014). Many fans of K-pop can become K-drama fans because they watched a drama starring their favorite idols. â€Å"C. N. BLUE managed to solidify its place in the world of K-pop almost immediately after their debut in January 2010 because of Jung Yong-hwa’s performance and sweet, sensitive second lead in You’re Beautiful† (2012). In other cases, f(x)’s Krystal â€Å"plays the female lead in the Wednesday-Thursday SBS drama â€Å"My Lovely Girl†, co-starring with global star, Rain; while, TVXQ’s Yunho starred in the popular TV series â€Å"The Night Watchman’s Journal† (pictured) (Ock Hyun-ju, 2014). Yunho played Moo-seok, a night watchman and a skilled swordsman who is a cold-hearted man of few words but popular with the ladies. Because of his amazing acting skills and incredible sword play, the drama not only boosted his own popularity but also brought more attention to his respective group, TVXQ. An idol turning to the field of acting is among the great means of seeking more popularity, especially rookie idols, as Yunho and Krystal both set as examples in this situation. Aside from acting, the combination of synchronized group dancing to harmonized melodic music is the next particularity that has helped K-pop artists to gain popularity. Unlike, Western artists, K-pop boy and girl bands actually attempt to master synchronized group dancing while singing complex harmonies. According to an article, ‘Envisaging the Sociocultural Dynamics: Time/Space Hybridity, Red Queen’s Race and Cosmopolitan Striving’, Nusrat Durrani of MTV World mentioned: â€Å"K-pop is very interesting because it comes from a place of great discipline. A lot of these acts have been professionally trained for years and years. A lot of K-pop acts actually have gone through very rigorous training, gone through a lot of discipline and have worked extremely hard. So the quality you see in K-pop is quite extraordinary† (Jang Won-ho and Kim Young-sun, 2013). Choreography carries out two purposes: serving as a vessel for music and emphasizing the meaning of the music. In the case of Exo’s Overdose, the â€Å"hammering the head† dance (pictured) carried a unique and special meaning: â€Å"as a representation of how logic in a brain fails to work with its obsession with love, so Exo is hitting the brain the return the common sense† (2014). Such extraordinary dancing technique caught the attentions of fans, so whenever they hear the song, they would recognize and attempt to imitate the unique dancing movement for fun. To achieve such a difficult feat, trainees must sign a long-term contract and go through intensive training while maintaining the motivation for enduring such training. In an interview with SM Entertainment trainers, one interviewee explained that â€Å"Korean trainees were more willing to endure harsh training of synchronized dancing while singing more successfully than their Chinese, Japanese, or European trainee counterparts† (Jang Won-ho and Kim Young-sun, 2013). Lip Syncing and Vocal Performance EssayThe usual means of allowing the public to know the idols more include magazines, TV, Youtube and etc. Taking the importance of physical appearance into account, this concept especially applies to idols with the role of visuals. Almost all of the K-pop idols have gone through dramatic changes in their appearances through both plastic surgery and dieting process. Taking Big Bang’s T. O. P as an example, in his younger days, he was surprisingly quite fat, so there was a huge gap between his current and past images. Thanks to the power of dieting and plastic surgery, he was able to gain his charismatic image as a result and gained public recognition. Without the technology of plastic surgery, idols now would not have been able to gain popularity from the public and would not survive as long as they are today. The visual’s job is exactly what the word implies: visual. â€Å"Often times the visual member is the face of the group, being the most commercialized and recognized member, and plays a great deal in carrying an idol group into the limelight† (Nabeela, 2012). Visual members, such as 2PM’s Nichkhun, 2NE1’s Dara, Girls’ Generations’ Yoona and Exo’s Kai, are all â€Å"likely to be the one most often hired to endorse products and appear in commercials and ads† (hyucham, 2014). Although the task of being the visual may seem pointless and simple, these visual members go the extra mile in advertising not only commercial products but also themselves, their respective idol groups, and their world of entertainment. In the case of Girls’ Generation’s Yoona, the famous star apparently â€Å"is featured in over 25 commercial films annually, allowing her to earn more than 2 billion won alone† (2014). Because of the fact that Yoona is the visual of Girls’ Generation, she not only earned a huge sum of money but also allowed the famous group and herself to gain more fame and adoration from fans. In order for idols to complete the equation of becoming ‘perfect,’ they will need to take extreme care of their image to maintain their recognition within the public. Talent is the final piece of the puzzle that contributes to K-pop idols’ popularity. There are a handful amount of idols, who specialize in fields other than singing, acting and dancing. CNBLUE’s leader, Jung Yong-hwa, is well-known for not only his acting and singing but also most notably his skills in songwriting. In the first half of 2012, he wrote and composed 17 tracks, emerging as a â€Å"songwriting genius†. He â€Å"composed fellow FNC Entertainment label-mates, Juniel’s ‘Fool’, AOA’s ‘Love Is Only You’† (jnkm, 2012) and even â€Å"the Samsung Galaxy’s brand song, ‘Feel Good’, which was released officially on Youtube on August 23, 2013† (halves in unison, 2013). Chinese-Canadian singer, Henry Lau, sets as another perfect example of those with exceptional talent. Lau has been called a â€Å"musical genius† for various reasons. His areas of expertise include violin, piano, popping, drum, Latin dance, ballet, beat box, rap, songwriting, music composition, acting, guitar playing and singing. He â€Å"started to learn to play the piano from his mother at the age of 5 and also learned to play the violin at the age of 6† (JHE, 2010). Thanks to his exceptional skills in violin and piano, he has â€Å"gained many such performance awards as the Canadian Royal Conservatory of Music Regional Gold Medal for Level 10 Violin† (JHE, 2010). Aside from the field of music, he also possesses a very high degree of foreign language skills. While his native language is English, he is also fluent in Mandarin and Korean. Other languages that he can speak include â€Å"Cantonese, Japanese, basic French, Taiwan dialect and Spanish† (2010). With such skills in his arsenal, he has been highly recognized by the world. With talent, idols can quickly gain the public attention and obtain popularity, as Jung Yong-hwa and Henry Lau have done to get to where they are now. In order to gain popularity, there is a multitude of options that K-pop idols can take: acting, dance choreography, appearance in variety shows, CFs, physical appearance and talent. Although there are other ways of attaining popularity, the six alternatives stated above are the major factors that contribute to an idol’s reputation. Once rookie idols debut on stage, they must take their first step to the miraculous journey of gaining public recognition by going through any of the listed options in this paper or other methods, such as radio DJ.

Managing customers and markets

Abstract The report gives an analysis on the role of marketing information and research in analyzing Caffe Nero’s status within the market. The paper starts by introduction followed by the analysis of qualitative research and how it could be utilized for the benefit of the business; the focus is on the use of focus groups as well as in-depth interviews.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Managing customers and markets specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Then there’s SWOT analysis for Cafà © Nero followed by conclusion then finally recommendation with justification on the appropriate strategies which should be adopted by Caffe Nero to ensure sustainability and growth. Introduction Caffe Nero’s intention within the food industry looks very attractive for competitive purposes. This is because they face low pressure from suppliers and moderate pressure from buyers. The food industry is highly competi tive with many substitutes available, this makes it essential for Caffe Nero to develop business and marketing strategies which will help them do well against pressures from the global forces and ultimately attract and retain consumers. Research undertaken using qualitative method has great influence on decision-making and designing of strategies. The level of competition within the market determines the development of products and services which would grant them competitive advantage. The high purchasing power of buyers determines the level of sales and ultimately the profits. It is essential for Caffe Nero to focus on consumer tastes and demands (Kotler et al, 2005). Qualitative Research Focus Groups Focus groups comprises of carefully selected group of individuals having relevant experience in a particular field. The experienced individuals are required to perform studies through their personal input and issues common to all. Focus groups are preferred in qualitative studies beca use of the in-depth values they add to research processes. Interactions amongst participants, sharing of own ideas leads to adequate exposure which ultimately enables development of new perspectives concerning specific issues (Parent et al., 2000).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Questions answered by respondents are carefully crafted so that the study focuses on the common agenda hence allowing researcher to conceptualize the topic based on the consumer’s background (Ulwick, 2002, pp 91-97) and therefore there is an element of external control to these kinds of study. Focus groups are used before conducting in-depth interviews so as to help in stirring one another’s thinking. Within the groups they would hear different opinions or responses concerning topic in question hence enabling them think clearly along the same line. In-depth Interviews This is a type o f unstructured interview in which the researcher is allowed to ask specific questions to individuals concerning selected topics of research. It comes in as a critical tool used in research whenever individual opinions are required and not group opinions. In-depth interviews are conducted immediately after focus groups for the purposes of establishing individual responses which could not be shared publicly concerning consumer reactions. In-depth interviews are used for the purposes of helping in deep understanding of the social and physical settings of the environment where it is undertaken, the traditions, values, effects and roles practised by the respondents. Using in-depth interviews enables collection of sufficient and crucial data information that could not be otherwise shared within the various groups. This also helps in reinforcing trust between the interviewer and the interviewee and hence makes respondents be willing to contribute more and more (Whyte, 1982). In-depth inter views are used to help gain an understanding on how consumers respond and interpret their interactions based on the products, within their respective market environments. In-depth interviews are considered flexible and easy to understand since they are generally open-ended, neutral, sensitive and very clear to the respondent. The structure provided by the method allows for open conversations which help in providing detailed information about the interviewee’s general experiences and response towards Caffe Nero.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Managing customers and markets specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One prerequisite for this study is formation of good rapport between researcher and respondents as it requires adequate time to execute. This type of research method is common where the researcher and the respondent share common knowledge concerning specific topics of discussion. In-depth interviews are time consuming; heavily qualitative in nature and therefore it is a requirement which requires highly trained professionals (Ulwick, 2002, pp 91-97) SWOT Analysis SWOT is the general internal analysis done to an organization which helps in evaluating Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. This analysis is done with the aim of implementing future growth strategies. The analysis becomes appropriate when making critical decisions to business ventures based on both internal and external factors with the sole aim of maximizing on identified benefits for future sustainability. SWOT analysis of Caffe Nero being a Coffee restaurant is pegged on the general challenges faced within the market environment (Johnson and Sexty, 1989). Strengths Nero has considerable advantage in pricing its products as compared to other competitors within the coffee business. Its strategy of offering low prices in the market for coffee brands, resonates well within the market, for example the smallest q uantity of cappuccino costs on average  £ 2 at Starbucks,  £ 1.79 at Coffe costa and  £ 1.55 at Caffe Nero. Therefore Caffe Nero is cheaper by over 20% and over 15 % in pricing compared to Starbucks and Coffe Costa respectively identified as its immediate competitors. This strategy pays off in the long run as consumers tend to associate themselves with low prices (Mead, 2005). The enterprise seeks to diversify its products to the niche markets. For the purposes of adding onto the existing coffee brands, Caffe Nero indulges into offering fast foods synonymous to drinking coffee. These fast foods include; sandwich, cakes and crips. This has since proved of great benefit as revealed by 2007 company analysis which indicated that 35% of total sales at the Caffe were attributed to food sales while 65% attributed to coffee drinks.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The rationale to this is that by diversifying products to consumers, the business reduces risks associated with venturing in one brand of products and further offers an opportunity for additional revenue (Mead, 2005). Caffe Nero intelligently opted to renting business premises rather than buying those premises which were averagely costly. Renting is comparatively cheaper to acquisition and this provides an avenue where the business breaks even its operations within a short time, a factor responsible for quick profitability, hence creating avenues by significantly reducing costs of business set-up. Distinctive ways in selling products based on continental aspects has been associated with high customer turn-out. The organization offers its products to consumers in a relaxed environment and not the typical fast food environment of eating and drinking while standing as enshrined in American culture, and mostly practiced by major competitors. This in effect has brought relevance to consu mers who view themselves as part of the organization in valuation (Mead, 2005). Aggressiveness in sales promotion and retention of customers through loyalty cards proves workable. This strategy ensures that the business has substantial clientele within the market despite the intensive competition; this ensures that revenues are assured at certain benchmarks. It also acts as a form of advertising since loyal customers are offered discounts, a situation which prompts new customers to the business because of their sensitivity to consumer spending (Mead, 2005). Weakness Globalization of the coffee business is still at its lowest. Caffe Nero is capable of assimilating massive returns and achieving big economies of scale if it ventures to other markets besides the mother country. When coffee market is near saturation as the case in United Kingdom, for a business to remain relevant it has to explore untapped potential in different areas. Concentrating its businesses within mother country p roves disastrous in the long run as revealed by the ever increasing competition (Mead, 2005). At the heart of operation in London Caffe Nero is deficient of its own operating business premises. This is critical for the purposes of offering convenient services to customers. Consumers would prefer businesses which are located at convenient points, renting of spaces cannot be effective solution to this because there is big uncertainty on availability of appropriate premises. Opportunities Strong partnership with Royal bank of Scotland for financial provision gives a lee way towards expansion plans for the organization. The funding offered at negotiated interest rates, provides adequate time for the purposes of implementing payoff while at the same time minimizing the liability value of the company. With this the company is in robust position of venturing into new markets with acquisition of critical assets for the business. There is potential of accessing extra revenue with the intenti ons of globalizing the business. The company has identified the need of moving to various provinces away from the saturated London for the purpose of tapping into new businesses and secondly the company plans to go global by first exploring western European countries. Their reasoning is justified because these countries have similar culture in consumption of coffee which is very crucial for the expansion of the business (Kotler et al, 2005). Acquisition of other related businesses, by raising financial stakes in Republic Coffee to 10.7%, have made it clear their intention of buying out the business. This is critical to controlling market share and for the purposes of expanding strategies. If the process continues then Caffe Nero will use outlets previously used by their rivals to penetrate new markets easily, this strategy helps in further lowering the costs of transacting businesses. Threats Recent negative publicity surrounding the coffee drink and food industry provided an impedi ment towards realization of a continuous business trend. When reputation of an organization is dented there is general fear among its consumers that they will not get value for their money, moreover the food industry in which Caffe Nero operates is very sensitive whereby any bad impression created proves very costly to the business (Kotler et al, 2005). Security in the expansion endeavors is not guaranteed. Especially when the organization expands its operations to global scenes, some cultures work against ideologies of western culture as seen through frequent terrorist attacks to businesses linked to western world. Massive investment could be lost within a twinkle of an eye and therefore there is critical need of conducting adequate risk assessment for the new business. There is less attraction of potential customers in form of tourists due to effects of London bombing in 2005. This market niche has a big impact to the business as they provide premium revenue towards the organizati on’s finances. Whenever the number decreases due to security reasons then the organization is left with internal consumers who at times prove unreliable due to immense competition (Glass, 1991). Acquisition of rental premises proves to be in jeopardy. Increase in rental prices by 30% proves costly for the business, since continuation of renting new premises helps in curtailing expansion plan of reaching critical forms of revenues. The industry seems to achieve its end point within London which is the main base of operation due to small time players who happens to locate their business premises at convenient points for the benefit of consumers. This helps in creating stiff competition towards sales making the business unprofitable in the long run (Glass, 1991). PEST Analysis This is an analysis which seeks to measure market performance in relation to specific common businesses before any form of earnest marketing could begin. Pest deals with analysis of Politics, Economics, an d Socio-cultural and Technological aspects within the market in relation to a specific organization. These factors are considered critical when defining business continuity. The following presents PEST analysis for Caffe Nero organization located in London (Kotler et al, 2005). Political Analysis The country joined European Union in 1973, therefore its business ethics inclusive of tax, heavily relies upon the framework of European Union agreement. The critical aspect is that United Kingdom does not subscribe to the use of a single currency in the form of Euro. Businesses seeking to operate in the country therefore have to be content with the inconvenient processes of transacting business using local currency which presents higher exchange rate values (Lovelock et al, 1999). The country and its associated business worldwide are potential targets to terrorism. This emanates from political policies linking the country to countries which are on the fore front in fighting terrorism, invo lvement in Afghanistan war and London bombing of 2005 is evident associations. Economic Analysis United Kingdom has got per capital gross Domestic Product standing at $ 26,408 annually, this makes the country to be ranked the fifth economic power house globally with potential population of 60 million people. Gross Domestic Products amounts to over $1 trillion presenting big avenue towards expansion of businesses in terms of revenues. Growing at an average rate of 2% per annum the transactions in the economies are never affected by fluctuations in local demand, this means that most businesses thrive due to investment both in and out of the country (UK Statistics, 2007). Government reduced personal income tax from over 20% to 20% in the year 2007. This provided an incentive to consumers who by this effect now have more of expenditure power to the economy which is critical to business revenues. Business taxes were reduced by the same margin of to 28% in order to cater for more private investment within the economy. The effect of this was reduction in cost of operating business premises. Small inflation rates in the year 2007 sent satisfying signals that the country standard of living was high, and that generally, prices of basic commodities were under close supervision by the government (UK Statistics, 2007). Socio-Cultural Analysis A good percentage of the total work forces within the country are foreigners contributing to almost 8% of the immigration rate. This in effect implies that cost of labor is significantly affordable which translates to reduction in overhead expenses of conducting a business. Since 8% of the total populations are non-whites, there is considerable diversity of culture and religion. Most domineering religion is Christianity with scarcity of other religions including Protestants. With all these religion in diversity, the country stands strongly in business orientation as every aspect of the society is catered for (UK Statistics, 2007). Tec hnological Analysis The country is more advanced in technology within all spheres of economy. The only impediment is lack of enough personnel in technological field including engineers. High public debt and low public investment is a critical impediment as laid down policies does not perform much in outsourcing research and development programs. Generally, United Kingdom has economic factors which could hinder business investment within the country. Most critical is the non-flexibility in the use of currency in transacting businesses, secondly is the high costs on personal tax and lastly high taxes on business. These are few reasons amongst other factors which make global investment in United Kingdom as low and other countries preferred (Mead, 2005). Marketing Strategies The most appropriate marketing strategy for Caffe Nero is the adoption of a multi channel marketing strategy. This strategy focuses on reaching different segments of the society at appropriate time through a combina tion of different marketing principles. The justification to this multi-channel marketing is that the organization brand becomes installed within customer’s minds as much as they are always associated with it. Business today does not entirely focus on the brand but rather on customer satisfaction and customer care. As competition increases, and for transformation to be realized, there is apparent need in maintaining loyal customers for the purposes of building respectable market share (Aaronson, 2002). These consumers need to be recognized and appreciated so that they could be considered as part of the company’s success. Traditional marketing was done through limited electronic and print media; this evolved with the addition of electronic marketing like World Wide Web which simplified costs of advertising and helped in greater coverage hence reaching potential consumers. Study conducted in 2002 by Aaronson showed that response rates from consumers increases significant ly whenever business experiences improvement (Aaronson, 2002). Figure 1: Personalization effects on click through rates. Multi-channel marketing places strategies which incorporate synchronization of communication tools ensuring that consumers are always reminded of the organization’s products. Customers interacting with businesses over multiple channels are more loyal than customers who interact through single channels. Some key strategies for effective multi-channel marketing comprise of developing un-parallel response network. It is important that Caffe Nero develops a department in the marketing section endowed with responsibility on customer care. This section has to be managed by professionally trained experts so that quality services are ensured and never compromised (Parent et al, 2000). Personalization of communication; Caffe Nero could realize high potential of demand from consumers when they communicate on personal basis through modes like e-mails. Consumers could be informed of new range of available products and current offers available. This creates an impression which considers customer as one of the most valued asset within the business (Lovelock et al, 1999). Leveraging of more effective customer channel; marketing campaigns should be stressed towards channels that seem more effective and easy to interact with consumers. If for example web based advertising works out well for caffe Nero then more resources have to be dedicated to it because it would result into more demand and at the same time become cheaper in the long run. With its broad scope of operation, it is more appropriate for caffe Nero to use web based advertising for the purposes of fully supplementing print and electronic media marketing strategies (Lovelock et al, 1999). Conclusion The summary on SWOT analysis does indicate that despite strong growth indicators of Caffe Nero in the local UK market, the future is pegged towards globalization revealed through critical facto rs known as market saturation. The only concern is to implement effective strategies in penetrating foreign markets and security concerns due to global politics; on a global front the company faces an imminent increase in profitability. Recommendations The use of service providers within transition channels; businesses with considerable clientele might find it challenging using new technologies in marketing as this is not core part of their daily business. Business like Caffee Nero could outsource customer care services through dedicated information communication companies so that the company maintains effective touch with consumers. In their quest to expand globally and nationally the organization will have to interact with customers and intelligently shift them to channels which are convenient to both consumers and the business. Reference List Aaronson, J. 2002. Multi-Channel Marketing: Channibalism? Web. Glass, N., 1991. Pro-active management: How to improve your management Perfo rmance. East Brunswick, NJ: Nichols Publishing. Johnson, G. Sexty, R. 1989. Exploring Strategic Management. Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice Hall. Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Saunders, J. Wong, V., 2005. Principles of Marketing. (4th European Edition). Pearson Education Ltd: Harlow. Lovelock, C., Vandermerwe, S. Lewis, B., 1999. Services Marketing: A European Perspective. London: Prentice hall. Mead, R., 2005. Cross Cultural Dimensions; International Management. Cambridge: Blackwell, pp 27-54. Parent, M., Gallupe, R. B., Salisbury, W. D., Handelman, J. M., 2000. Knowledge Creation in focus groups: Can group technologies help? Journal for Information Management, 38 (1), 4758. UK National Statistics, 2007. Economic statistics, Government report. Web. Ulwick, A. W., 2002. Turn Customer Input into Innovation. Harvard Business Review, 80 (1), 91-97. Whyte, W. F., 1982. Interviewing in field research. In: R. G. Burgess (Ed.), Field Research: A sourcebook and field manual. London; Cambri dge. This report on Managing customers and markets was written and submitted by user T1ffany to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

8 Persuasive Writing Techniques to Make the Story Appealing

Whether the story is fictional or not, there are less well-known persuasive writing techniques you can use to make it more appealing. Sometimes all it takes is a little reminding and boom, just like that new ideas come on like cerebral wildfire. In this article we’ll look at eight reliable methods you can use to compel your readers into deeper personal involvement. #1: Almighty Propaganda Not to get dark or anything, but look at how well certain governments and corporate bodies throughout modern history have used propaganda to persuade the masses do any number of oddball things. Are you adequately repeating the theme of the story in different ways? Are you creating characters that deepen the story by reinforcing your point, or pull it apart? If you need the reader to feel or imaginatively see something, then it bears repeating. Listen, the facts are in ladies and gentlemen: if you repeat a theme, a moral or even a marketing slogan to someone through a story about ten times over a short period you’ll imprint it within their minds. Say the same thing, show the same scene, or make the same impression in a series of different ways like creative and subtle propaganda. #2: Provide Reasons – Anything Will Do Give the readers good reason they should continue on with the next paragraph, buy the product, get involved with the character or even take you seriously as a writer. One of the most powerful words in your reason-arsenal is â€Å"because.† Why because? Who because? When because? What because? Everything needs to have because after it in one way or another for readers to buy into whatever story you’re selling. And here’s the key, your reasons don’t technically need to make sense. Of course in non-fiction this is situational, but for sales copy and fiction writing in general the reasons just need to be good enough to persuade, right? Since most human beings are persuaded emotionally, there’s a big grey area in the reasoning department. #3: Consistent Upward Climbs Rollercoasters are awesome, but they’re also mentally exhausting. If you want to drive readers nuts and have them begging for a CTA (call to action), then build your story with steady unchanging upwards momentum. Think about it from a psychological perspective. How much of human society is based on consistency? The power grid, entertainment, the work force etc. We’re mentally programmed not to come across as inconsistent. So, consistency needs to be woven into the fabric of your persuasive writing. #4: Lavish Readers with Social Proof Social proof is about tapping into another engrained trait – need for acceptance. Whether we want to admit it or not, we like to do what everyone else is doing. A simple example is, pretend you have a choice between two items of equal price and quality. One has customer testimonials extolling its virtues while the other does not. Which one do you think roughly 8 out of 10 people go with? Now, those testimonials could be completely false. It doesn’t occur to us to check their validity. Once you learn to recognize social proofing you begin to see it in all of the most powerful writing, regardless of genre. #5: Parables, Allegories, Metaphors Similes You could throw Myths in that list as well. This is the stuff that drives the human mind into frenzy. The trick, and the challenging part, is to make them original. How many creative, funny and ironic comparisons (simile) can you make between a mouse and a man? Metaphors get complex ideas across in a digestible way, through story. They make direct connections in indirect ways. Allegories are tough. Try making one of those up. Think about Plato’s timeless â€Å"Allegory of the Cave†. There is perhaps nothing more powerful than the proper and effective use of these tools. You can dramatically sweep minds right off their feet and into your arms (see what I just did there?). Study them and whenever you can, use them. #6: Appeal to the Human Animal Objectively, human beings are beings just like any others, at least in a physical sense. We’re governed to certain degrees, by instincts. These instincts go back hundreds of thousands of years. Jealousy, envy, acceptance into the tribe etc. When you really want to grab someone, grab them tribally. We all intimately understand the concept of â€Å"tribe.† Modern tribes are everywhere! #7: Unrestrained and yet Structured Insanity Go crazy. Do the unexpected and throw a few proverbial BIC lighters into the fire when no one’s looking. Upset the tribe. The key is to only allow true chaos to reign momentarily. If you sustain it too long the writing will thin out and all connection might be lost. Structure the insanity. #8: Get Psychological Last but not least, when your writing needs to evolve go psychological. It’s all psychological regardless really. Become the captain of that ship rather than the guy up in the crow’s nest. As the writer, you’re in control of the rudder of your story, not the audience. Use their minds as your persuasive sails. Have you created your own story? Do you have any tips for writing with persuasion?

Making the Case to Get a Business Degree

Making the Case to Get a Business Degree Business is a popular academic path for many students. These are just some of the reasons to major in business at the undergraduate or graduate level. Business is a Practical Major Business is sometimes known as the play it safe major because it is a practical choice for almost anyone. Every organization, regardless of industry, relies on business principles to prosper. Individuals who have a solid business education are not only poised to start their own business, they also have the practical skills needed to excel in a variety of positions in the industry of their choice. Demand for Business Majors is High The demand for business majors will always be high because there is an endless number of career opportunities available to individuals with a good business education. Employers in every industry need people who have been trained to organize, plan, and manage within an organization. In fact, there are many companies in the business industry who rely on business school recruiting alone to acquire new employees. You Could Earn a High Starting Salary There are some individuals who spend more than $100,000 on a graduate-level business education. These individuals know that they will make all of that money back within a year or two after graduation if they can find the right position. Starting salaries for business majors can be high, even at the undergraduate level. According to Census Bureau data, business is one of the highest paying majors. In fact, the only majors that pay more are architecture and engineering; computers, mathematics and statistics; and health. Students who earn an advanced degree, like an MBA, can earn even more. An advanced degree can make you eligible for management positions with very lucrative salaries, such as Chief Executive Officer or Chief Finance Officer. There are Plenty of Opportunities for Specialization Majoring in business isnt as straightforward as most people believe it is. There are more opportunities for specialization in business than most other fields. Business majors can choose to specialize in accounting, finance, human resources, marketing, nonprofits, management, real estate, or any path that relates to business and industry. If you arent sure what you want to do for the rest of your life, but you need to pick a major, business is a good option. You can always choose a specialization that fits your personality and career goals later on. You Could Start Your Own Business Most business programs⠁  - at the undergraduate and graduate level⠁  - contain core business courses in accounting, finance, marketing, management, and other essential business topics. The knowledge and skills that you obtain in these core classes are easily transferable to entrepreneurial pursuits, which means that you could easily start your own business after your earn your business degree. If you already know that you want to start your own company, you could major in business and minor or specialize in entrepreneurship to give yourself an extra edge.

Management issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Management issue - Essay Example ation can be achieved through proper communication by the management team to their employees, which raises the morale of the working team thereby achieving the targeted results. This paper looks at the role of effective communication in the motivation of the employees. It also highlights the implications of communication and motivation with the employees on the management while looking at how this could be a problem if not addressed properly. The paper further looks at the skills the managers need in order to be good motivators of their team and communicate effectively. Motivation is mainly associated with increase in pay or other better payment packages, career opportunities and also good relationships with co-workers at the workplace. However, communication acts as a pivotal aspect in employee motivation, and the management needs to understand the role of communication in motivation (Morreale et al., 2008). Effective communication entails proper information distribution in the company as all the information involving the company decisions should disseminated to the company employees (Bates, 2009). The company should ensure that they give the employees proper information involving the company such as the sale of shares, changes in the workforce and management, which eliminates incorrect rumours that the employees may form while at the same time making the employees feel respected by the company. Proper relationships are built by the employees, the management, and all departmental heads throughout the company. Communication strengthens the relation ships between the workers and the management making the employees more productive as they relate well with their supervisors and managers (Eunson, 2007). This can be achieved by holding departmental meetings weekly where the members of the department discuss the issues of the company or even employee assistance programs by the management to help the employees improve their skill set in a given aspect. In the decision

Walmart joint venture with Big C Thailand Essay

Walmart joint venture with Big C Thailand - Essay Example These evidences are gathered with the help of strategic tools such as PESTLE analysis of Thailand which would be helpful in providing an inside into the fundamental human resources requirement and the potential candidates from within Thailand to fill the new job places. The human resource practices of Wal-Mart will also be evaluated with respect to the impact of the business environment on the global horizon. To support the evidences presented in the report, the author will provide theoretical background pertaining to international human resource management and see if Wal-Mart’s human resource function are in accordance with the international standards or are there any changes required in the strategic human resource management of the retail giant. The author would conclude this report by demonstrating the skill set and personality traits. These traits are required to achieve organizational goals and objectives successfully. It is possible with the help of strengthening the re lationship with the colleagues. International Human Resource Strategy Overview of Thai Retail Sector The net worth of Thai retail sector stands at Baht 1.4 trillion as of 2011 and is considered an important pillar of country’s economy. The sector reported a sector growth of 5% by the end of 2011 with the Retail Sale Index of 186.5 for the same period. Due to the economic reforms introduced by the government in post-political crisis scenario has helped the sector gain strength, the major contributor being the export sector within the retail industry (Thailand Retail, Food & Hospitality Services, 2011). PESTEL Analysis of Thailand Political Environment After the political crisis stretching from 2008 to 2011, Thailand is on the road to recovery and brings stability in its infrastructure to invite tourists to the country, which has always remained the focal industry of Thailand, and open new doors for business. The positive political outlook and the development of infrastructure along with the security provided to the individuals (Henry, 2008), Thailand is considered as shoppers’ heaven and both nationals and foreigners spend enormous amounts on the purchase of items available at retail stores. Economic Environment Majority of Thailand’s economy depends upon the gross domestic product of the manufacturing sector which accounts for about two third of Thailand’s exports. Whereas, exports are the area which generates most of revenue for Thailand’s government and the country is considered as one of the biggest exporters of manufactured goods in the world. The reforms introduced by the New Government in Thailand have helped the economy to stabilize. Since coming out of the recent political disturbance, Thailand has invested $ 57 billion on the development of infrastructure for local and international businesses (Naranlala School of Industrial Management and Computer Science, 2013; Trueba, Esteban, 2011). Society/Culture of Thailand Ye ars of political and economic crisis within the country had produced the urge to achieve national goals and objectives amongst the Thai society. For this reason, Thai businessmen and working class is considered as hard workers so that they can achieve what they want. Merit regarded as being essential for qualifying for fields in the life. Huge number of foreigners, some of them residing within the country and the majority of them coming into Thailand as tourists, has

Is deindustrialisation a cause for concern Coursework

Is deindustrialisation a cause for concern - Coursework Example The first and foremost negative impact of deindustrialization involves transition and reduction in employment trends. With the reduction in industrial capacity of developed economies, the employment levels in these sectors are bound to decrease. The people employed in these sectors will be gradually reduced or eliminated which pose the inevitable problem of unemployment or altering the skill set to adjust themselves to other emerging markets, which particularly involves the service sector. Another major setback of deindustrialization is the growing divide on economic terms that is growing gap between rich and poor in particular. The people who are most reliant upon manufacturing sectors are the ones who will suffer most when there is a transition of manufacturing economy to a service sector-based economy. While this group of people will suffer most economically, who will find themselves either out of employment or willing to work on very low wages just to keep the ball rolling, on th e other hand will be people who are already working in the service sector and face better prospects in future as the sector grows. This is what happened in Detroit where deindustrialization has resulted in an increase in unemployment and growing divide between rich and poor. Detroit was famous for its automotive industry and with a high proportion of people employed in this industry; the residents enjoyed a high standard of living. This was not for long as Detroit faced deindustrialization and automotive companies soon began to migrate to the southern US states or other countries to take advantage of lower wages. As a result, the people who were employed in this automotive industry faced huge employment crisis and the income per capita in this particular area has been alarmingly low in the recent past. In addition to this, people have started to leave for pastures new to bring an improvement to their deteriorating living standards. As a result of deindustrialization, manufacturing s ector consists of the smallest share of US workforce in more than a hundred years (Boundless, n.d.). The same concept applies with other nations where the inequality has been on a rise with the developed economies such as United States, Unite Kingdom, Japan, France and Germany focusing on value added products, particularly services. On the other hand have been the developing and industrializing nations such as China, India and Indonesia who focus on manufacturing. The trends indicate that the economic disparity between developed and developing nations have been on a rise due to manufacturing. (International Monetary Fund, 1997) The most significant factor of deindustrialization has however not been discussed much by the analysts, maybe because they have underestimated the potential problem at hand. Although we live in a world of globalization, it must be noted that a fully globalized world on the basis of competitive advantage is just a theory and not practical. This cannot be put i nto practice because a country should be sustainable to meet the demand of at least the important and essential products, for example eatables. It is true that the current economic circumstances require developed nations to turn to value added products such as services. But in order to be a sustainable economy,

Importance Of Explicit Knowledge Information Technology Essay

Importance Of Explicit Knowledge Information Technology Essay This document deals about the importance of Explicit Knowledge in the organizations. Most of the knowledge occurs in the organizations in the form of tacit knowledge. Here we deal with how to transform the tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. The accumulation, storage and reuse of the explicit knowledge. Here we are talking about the barriers in the acquiring of explicit knowledge. The use of technology for the purpose of accumulation, storing and reuse of knowledge is also discussed. Todays business environment knowledge is emerged as a driving force in the organization. The knowledge workers and their ability are very important (LI , BRAKE,CHAMPION ,FULLER,GABEL AND HATCHER-BUSCH 2009 : 347). Recent studies show that organizations success depends on its ability to learn and adapt to particular situation. The unique performance in the organization is the key to outperform their competitor.(LI , BRAKE,CHAMPION ,FULLER,GABEL AND HATCHER-BUSCH 2009 : 348). In organization there are mainly two types of knowledge exist tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge .Scholars noticed that most part of human knowledge is present in the form of tacit knowledge (UNGAN (2006):403) . Its in the minds of the people. Explicit Knowledge is the knowledge that is expressed and documented. The documented and codified knowledge will have a structure and is easily accessed by others. (STOVER 2004 : 164).To create true knowledge it is necessary to see tacit and explicit knowledge as complem entary and both are needed to knowledge creation. IMPORTANCE OF EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE: Tacit knowledge is something that is acquired by individuals experience in particular area. It help him to find solution for problems faster than his colleagues It is acquired through once experience and experiment in particular field (STOVER 2004 : 165). Articulating the tacit knowledge, making tacit knowledge explicit is very important in the perspective of the organization (STOVER 2004 : 165).Explicit knowledge is described in structured language. It is mainly more technical data this knowledge is gained mostly through formal education or by structured study .This will help organizations to preserve their huge knowledge capital from losing. When employees leave organization they take with them the huge amount of knowledge. (STOVER 2004 : 165). Valuable Knowledge will be wasted if organizations fails to collect , standardize and store and share the knowledge. The KM scholars believes that the articulation of knowledge helps the organization and individuals to access the knowledge in a cost effective way. Explicit knowledge is carefully organized and stored in data bases in priority basis .It should be accessible with high quality , fast and easily. The explicit knowledge can be reused for sole problems of similar kind (SMITH 2001 : 315).For instance Anderson consulting created methods to codify store and reuse explicit knowledge. They used a people to document approach. It took information from person who developed it and made independent to its developer. All the sensitive information is removed and it can be used in the same similar context (SMITH 2001 : 315).When knowledge is shared among the members of the organization , it can be viewed as organizational history and experience (BONTIS 1998 : 64). In small companies they manage their knowledge is by training the new employees. Its a costly process. Thats where the importance of comput er based learning comes. Transformation of tacit to explicit knowledge is important here (WICKERT AND HARSCHEL 2001:330). If a expert employee got sick or left the organization the expertise of that employee is not available for a fixed amount of time or permanently (WICKERT AND HARSCHEL 2001:331). In job market skilled and experienced workers are getting retired. New young workers are replacing them . So there is a high demand for sharing of experience . This can be possible by the articulation of tacit knowledge they have gained from their experience (JACKSON 2010:915). EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE CREATION EXPLAINED IN S.E.C.I AND BA MODEL In S.E.C.I model externalization phase deals with the transformation of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. For knowledge transformation they use different methods. Some of the methods are storytelling , narrative and using some IT medias like emails, chat rooms etc. The knowledge should be structured so as it should provide accessible and reusable. Externalization should be structured then the knowledge can be made sensible and available for potential users(JACKSON 2010:911).Top management can influence the externalization of knowledge. They can encourage the teams to develop their own metaphor for what they should do (RICHTNER AND AHLSTROM 2010:1020).The creation of concept of a new product is the example of externalization. In combination phase the extracted knowledge is standardized and systematic procedures to combine the knowledge using computer database or an expert system. The internalization deals with the transformation of explicit knowledge again to tacit knowledge by t he use of stored explicit knowledge.(STOVER 2004 : 165). The meaning of Ba is place . Ba does not mean only the physical space . It is the concept of interaction . For the creation of knowledge a space is necessary. This space may be a physical one or a virtual like online one. There are four types of Ba . Among that dialoguing ba deals with the face to face interaction . It is the space where individuals share knowledge. The process of tacit to explicit knowledge conversion happens here. Dialoguing ba is more structured than the previous ba . In systematic ba the collected knowledge is combined to a more structured form. The use of information technology like online networks , group ware etc contribute to systemizing ba .The excersiing ba where the stored knowledge is shared through virtual media or print etc. The healthy interaction between all these ba can amblify the knowledge creation ( Nonaka,I.Toyama,R and Konno,N.(2000) :16-17). BARRIERS IN KNOWLEDGE ARTICULATION: Converting tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge is a tedious job. As we said tacit knowledge is embedded in the minds of the individuals. This make it difficult to formalize and express. There are some personal issues in articulating the knowledge. Individuals believe that articulating the knowledge one may lose his competitive advantage. Some people believe their knowledge is not worth expressing . Some KM scholars believe that language barriers also hinder the transformation of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. (STOVER 2004: 166) The culture of the organization also may be a factor that hinders knowledge generation and sharing in the organization. There may be political issues between the departments that prevent the transfer of knowledge. Sharing culture is very important before implementing any strategies in any organization (Syed-Ikhsan and Rowland 2004 : 100). Knowledge transfer requires groups or individuals to work together and share their expertise and knowledge. The knowledge transfer does not occur unless group or individuals shows a co-operate behavior(SYED-IKHSAN AND ROWLAND 2004 : 96). Individualism is one of the major factors that hinder the creation and transfer of knowledge in any organization ( Syed-Ikhsan and Rowland 2004 : 100). For the sharing of knowledge there should be trust among the employees. In project team leadership style also effect the process of knowledge sharing(MA,QI AND WANG 2008:101).The authoritarian style leaders give no chance for the team members to participate and share knowledge. While the democratic style leaders encourages team members to interact and share knowledge (MA,QI AND WANG 2008:101).Another factor that hinders the knowledge sharing in the public organization is limited access to the resources (Syed-Ikhsan and Rowland 2004 : 100).Time is one of the major factors that inhibits the process of a rticulating the tacit knowledge. Most of the employees have a little time for articulating their knowledge. Patrick and Lee done research and they contradicted the views of Richard and Kabjian who says the fear of losing superiority and reward system are inhibitors of knowledge sharing. They also argues that the size of the company is not a problem in knowledge transferring (FONG LEE 2009:304) Some KM scholars like Swartz and Marwick argues technology is unable to provide a complete solution for knowledge capture . At many instance the experts find it is very difficult to trigger a knowledge person by query unless they are put into problem situation (JACKSON 2010 :911). Researchers found that the fear of not being adequately rewarded is the one of the barrier for the knowledge sharing. CAPTURING KNOWLEDGE: As we said conversion of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge is difficult. There are several ways in which tacit knowledge can be made explicit. The formal ways of interviewing is a useful method. In interviews participants are asked structured questions. This format of interview should be made such that they shouldnt feel that the articulation is happening (STOVER 2004 : 166-167).The level of details available in documentation depends on the purpose of documentation (UNGAN 2006 : 404).For conversion of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge the interviewer should accompany the knowledge worker in his process. In between the knowledge can be articulated. For this formal language is used (UNGAN 2006:407) . Individuals poses high level of tacit knowledge . If organizations fail to track it then it cannot be made explicit and will not reach its fullest potential (BONTIS 1998:66). The role of knowledge managers is very important. He can encourage the employees to share their knowledge and make them explicit (STOVER 2004 : 166-167). The knowledge management is riskier unless the organizations take initiatives and reward system for sharing of knowledge (SMITH 2001 : 312). For instance Buckman Laboratories recognizes their knowledge in their annual conference. Lotus one of the divisions of IBM evaluates the customer support workers on the basis of their knowledge sharing activities (BARTOL AND SRIVASTTAVA 2002 : 64). Xerox developed a system called Eureka which is meant for the maintenance engineers to share their ideas and experience .Once these ideas are posted they are verified and made available for service engineers all over the world. This help the Xerox in saving $100 million . Companies like Cap Gemini Ernst Young makes merit decision based on the knowledge sharing activity of its employees .In these companies the people who are posting ideas are evaluat ed and then posted into the knowledge contribution database(BARTOL AND SRIVASTTAVA 2002:67). Technology is important in collecting and codifying knowledge. There should be a strong framework for the systematic storing of knowledge. IT itself cannot helps something to get out of someones head. It is the role of managers to find out what is important for the organization . Some KM theorist like Pawar doubts the centralization of knowledge. He states that centralization of knowledge will reduce the cost of sharing the knowledge . He agrees the role of role of technology plays in the acquiring, storing and structured distribution of knowledge . Combining the intellectual property with IS will help the individual intellectual property to the group property (BONTIS 1998:66).KM combined with It will support the data mining and sharing of explicit knowledge (WICKERT AND HARSCHEL 2001 :333).Internet is one of the major repository of explicit knowledge(WICKERT AND HARSCHEL 2001 : 335). Knowledge exchange protocols can be used in transferring tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. SOAP protocol which is used by physicians is one of the examples. This protocol helps to structure clinician patient conversation and helps to share issues by understanding the physicians thinking. This also helps in documentation of patient medical record (HERSCHEL,NEMATI AND STEIGER 2001:107).New generation tools such as wikis , blogs ,social networking etc. helps a greater collaboration in work place. This will solve some of the problems associated with knowledge capturing. These forms even can accommodate videos , images etc. It can be used to capture informal indicates of tacit knowledge (BARTOL AND SRIVASTTAVA 2002:64).This videos and images can then be summarized based on the content . They can be linked to topics of relevance and stored. These can be accessed through portals later (COAKES 2006:583). Mobile technology can be used for the capture of knowledge .In organizations there will be mobile workers will be advantaged by these technology. The challenge is how to incorporate the this knowledge to main memory. Information technology can be used as a powerful tool. It can be transformed from the role of storing and retrieving data to improve access to knowledge by removing the spatial obstacles of knowledge transfer. IT has got a ability to spread knowledge across different departments of the organizations (TOHIDINIA AND MOSAKHANI 2010 : 615). CONCLUSION: For any organization the Knowledge is very important. The conversion of Tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge is very risky process. There are the barriers like individualism, politics inside the organizational departments. The factor of trust plays a major role in conversion of knowledge . For some small companies the cost of knowledge sharing is not affordable. Technology can play a major role in the tacit to explicit knowledge transfer. There are new generation technologies that can be used for the this purpose. The reward system is one factor that will encourage knowledge transfer. The role of the management in promoting the knowledge conversion is very important . The uniqueness of knowledge the organization owns will brig the organization the competitive advantage.

Finding Enlightenment (and we wernt really looking for it) :: Essays Papers

Finding Enlightenment (and we wern't really looking for it) I knew it was coming. I just didn’t know what it would look like, how close we would be, or if it would trap us like the siege of St. Petersburg. It is hard to explain why I didn’t ask these kinds of questions before the twenty-three miles we’d gone that day, but it is easy to see why I couldn’t picture such things. Being in new places and seeing new things everyday and you just end up succumbing and rolling with the punches. The magnitude of what we were in for could not be documented on a chart or a map, which was the extent of our resources. For whatever incredible inventions humans have created, numerically speaking, the earth in all its vastness and beauty easily outnumbers human technology. There are trillions of enormous and miniscule creatures, spectacular mountain ranges that reach so high they touch the limit of mortal tolerance. There are evolved and intricately worked canyons and caves, wide fields and forests that never seem like they change but in all actuality have never stopped moving or changing since the beginning of time. We as humans look mighty ignorant to believe that we are the most special things ever to enter this world, especially when we are more destructive to our symbiosis with the natural world than preservers of our relationship with it. But on this particular day when I was confronted with something I’d never seen before, not even on television or in a text book , there it was so enormous that from 2 miles away I felt like I could reach out and touch it. Realistically, had I been close enough to scrape my frail human skin across its front side there is no doubt in my mind that I would not be around to tell the story today. That morning started so early, I felt as though the night before never came. During the summer in Alaska, the sun never sets and thus the day never ends, and if the day never ends then the next day never actually begins. I constantly tangled with this very confusing theory and lasted long into the night writing in my journal, fishing while my two-week permit lasted, or basking in the beauty that was and is Alaska. It was Day 20 of my 30-day excursion to Prince William Sound in Southern Alaska.

Behavioral therapy

Behavioral therapy is also known as behavioral modification. It is a psychological method based on the principle that one can change the badly adjusted, maladaptive, observable, specific and self destructive behavior, through learning new and more suitable behaviors (Skinner, p 194). The origin of this theory can be traced back to the school of behaviorism which indicates that one can scientifically study psychological matters through observation of overt behavior without necessarily involving interior psychological states.Skinners theory of behaviorism accepted and supported that internal state could be part of a certain kind of behavior without necessarily being the main cause; however, he declared that through environmental manipulation, one could improve on them. The behavioral theorists include Hans Eysenck, Joseph Wolpe, Harry Solomon, Ogden Lindsley and B. F Skinner and they all had different ways of looking at behavioral problems. Eysenck’s perspective saw behavioral p roblem as connection between one’s behavior, the environment and personality characteristics. For the sake of this study, I will focus on B.F skinner’s behavioral theory (Skinner, p 198). Origin of behavioral therapy Edward Thorndike did experiments to discover the ability of dogs and cats to solve problems. He constructed wooden crates and he would cage the animals each in their own crate. The animals would escape from the crates. Though initially he just wanted to show that dogs and cats’ achievement could be controlled, he realized that he could measure the intelligence of these animals using his tools (Lindsley, p 34). He would set the animals for the same kind of task and observe how long it took to complete the given task.He learnt that there was no difference in performance between the animals that started an assignment and the ones that first observed the others performing (Skinner, p 89). He also learnt that when an animal did something that made it to successfully get out of the box; the animal was likely to repeat that action when faced by the same kind of problem. He concluded that reward reinforces the relationship between stimulus and action. He later formalized it to be called the law of effect (Skinner, p 199). Classical conditioning theory then came to explain that there is an association between reflex and the neutral stimulus.Watson used rats in his experiments to improve on the law of effect and apply it in behaviorism. He made a maze which the rats were supposed to follow. Once they had mastered the routes, he started putting blocks at different points of the maze (Skinner, p 94). If a route was blocked, the rats would then follow another route indicating that they had memory. Once the second route was blocked they would follow the other available route. He observed that when the reward for an action done was less, then the rats performed the task more slowly (Lindsley, p76). B.F Skinner came to improve on Thorndike an d Watson’s work by studying objectively behavior sequences over a prolonged period of time. He came up with the concept of operant conditioning which related the operant response and the reinforcement. This theory is based on the proposal that learning could help in change of overt behavior. People change their behavior as a result response to the occurrences in their surroundings. A given response leads to a certain outcome. When one reinforces a certain pattern of Stimulus-Response, a person’s response becomes conditioned (Skinner, p 97).The key element in this theory is reinforcement; this is anything that supports the response that is desired. Reinforcement could be positive or negative. Positive reinforcement makes one be encouraged to do more of the action that led to positive results. It includes attaining satisfaction after doing something, being recognized, being praised for work well done among others. Negative reinforcement on the other hand involves the act ions that make one increase the frequency of responses once a certain stimulus is withdrawn. Aversive stimulus results to the reduction of responses (Skinner, p 200). Behavioral Therapy This is a report about Paula a client who was referred to therapy by the general practitioner of the hospital. Following a thorough physical checkup performed on Paula the GP feels that Paula’s heart is sound enough and her condition is psychological. (Getzfeld, 2004). Paula’s case is not an isolated case of psychological dysfunction and in fact a sizeable number of people suffer these attacks in silence. (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979). This is perhaps due to the feelings of embarrassment and stupidity that they feel they might be accused of.Additionally, panic attacks are not well known to many and hence the stigma. Nonetheless, panic attacks are not insignificant and can have a crippling effect in someone’s life. They are a symptom of underlying stressing and traumatic events in the patient’s life. (Feather & Ronan, 2006). This report gives a diagnosis of Paula’s case. It gives a comprehensive analysis of what is the onset of Paula’s con dition, the triggers and the effects of her attack. At the end of the report it will give the findings and recommendations on the way forward for Paula in getting treatment for her condition.Diagnosis Paula has been experiencing an array of symptoms that occur frequently at the workplace and outside home. These symptoms include dizzy spells, shortness of breath, dizziness and lightheadedness as well as chest pains and fast heartbeats. Paula feels that there is cause for alarm because these symptoms may be an indication of a heart attack. For this reason she has sought medical help from her general practitioners, and she has even visited a cardiologist for a sonogram and echocardiogram. Both these tests showed no defects or indication of heart attack.Nothing is wrong with Paula’s heart and apparently the symptoms may be a psychological related. The doctors at the company clinic where Paula works suggested that she try to relax more and steer away from caffeine, nonetheless the attacks still persevere despite Paula’s attempts to relax. She sought a second opinion from another physician who also gave similar diagnosis i. e. her attacks are a psychological problem hence she needs to sign up for therapy. With that Paula came to the clinic. Brief history of PaulaIn order to clearly diagnose Paula’s condition information from her life experiences both in the present and from the past had to be sought. Paula is 27 years old, single and lives at home with her parents. She has a good job at a securities and bond trading company which she has worked for loyally since she graduated from university with a BA in economics seemingly her life was be smooth and no developmental milestones have been experienced on her part. Prior to her recently persistent attacks she was ready to enroll for MBA.Her father died soon after she graduated from University after a brave fight with cancer, emphysema and the killer heart attack. Her mother has some health problems although nothing too serious. Her grandparents died of cancer; her grandma of breast cancer and her grandpa of colon cancer, she feels that cancer runs in the family and is afraid of it too. This is the reason why she stopped smoking and does not drink alcohol. She says matter of factly â€Å"I have enough bad seeds in me†. Paula is the only child not by plan but out of natural misfortune.She had a little brother who died at the age of three out of heart defects that developed with age. He also had other birth defects that Paula was unwilling to disclose. This memory made her teary. Obviously, the death of the little boy had deep-seated effects in all the family members. (Feather & Ronan, 2006). According to Paula, her parents did not try to get pregnant again and the option of adoption was too devastating to consider. Paula’s mother and friend at work feel greatly concerned over her condition and Paula feels that as well. Paula feels that it is time she had greater c ontrol over her problem.The medication she has been taking i. e. Xanax and Contac zonk her out and she refers to herself as a ‘walking dead’ when she is on this medications. The persistent attacks seem to be triggered by anything major to Paula and given the nature of her job she reports frequent dizzy spells, faints and attacks at work. She remembers a case whereby a client fell through and all the blame was pinned on her. At the same time a coworker at the workplace had shown particular interest on Paula as a woman. All these major events occurring concurrently in her somewhat laid back lifestyle triggered an attack.In the moment of it all, the other workers got wind of her weak point and she is afraid that they might think of her as ‘chicken’ or incompetent of handling such a demanding job. Frequency of attacks Paula’s attacks have been with her for a long while. She points out that ever since she entered university she started experiencing them. The stress levels were high what with the huge load of work, pressure from men in campus and the need to fit in since the university was small and everyone knew everyone else. In her high school it was easy to be an invisible wall paper and stay unnoticed when necessary.Unfortunately in university this was not the case and she lacked the necessary support systems or good outlets to channel the stress she was feeling. She also recalls her father’s death which affected her greatly. It was overwhelming for her although she had suspected it would happen soon. This reminded her of her brother’s death. For this reason Paula feels ‘life is very unfair’. The death of loved ones caused her to withdraw from life completely. At school she would get sweaty and the dizzy spells prior to presentation and even before she lost her virginity she had a panic attack.Paula’s case now involves her mothers, her co-workers the doctors and now psychiatrist. Before, it was her personal problem and she felt she could deal with it. Now her life is significantly affected and people around her are worried. Doctors feel that it is time she saw a therapist to uncover the real cause of the problem. Her mother feels strongly about the same as also the people at work. Assessment and investigation plan It seems that Paula is suffering from severe depression which manifests itself in panic attacks.(Alpert & Fava, 2004) She has not developed the expression skills and seems to bottle up feelings of anxiety, frustration, hurt and stress. She has managed to deactivate her social life and is highly dependant on her mother for comfort although she does not disclose her inner feelings to her mother as well. Notably, at 27 and with a good job she is still unattached to anyone and does not go out with friends. Throughout the sessions she makes no mention of significant persons other than her mother. Even at university she frequently went home to be babied.Her family back ground is a troubled one with a history of heart diseases and cancers. Her loved ones seem to be consumed by these diseases and she feels afraid of being the next. Panic attacks manifest either as ‘a way of getting through tough situations’ as she puts it or as a reaction to overpowering feelings of loss, excitement or expectations. After reviewing Paula’s case in detail it is recommended she have behavioral therapy as a start treatment program since it is the best therapy linked to activating the client from depression, a condition that is the underlying cause of Paula’s panic attacks.BATD (Behavioral Activation treatment for Depression) overview, foundation and Assumptions. This treatment option bases its foundations from cognitive therapy. It basically involves activating the client from depression by encouraging them to make connection between powerful experiences both in the present and in the past with the symptoms that they may be having. In Paulaâ €™s case it is panic attacks. The basic assumption of this therapy is that depression and subsequent symptoms of depression arise from life expenses of the patient and not the genetic predisposition. (Cooper, Smith & Upton, 1994).Vulnerability is severed by traumatic life events. This therapy encompasses assessment and treatment of cognitive, emotional and behavioral aspects of the clients. This means that its efforts are channeled toward sharpening social skills of the client through training and reinforcements, imparting relaxation techniques as well as therapy to help relax the client, increasing pleasurable activities in the clients life say situations with more laughter and easiness, training clients on assertness and emotional expressions and restructurings the clients patterns of thoughts and cognitive perceptions.(Gortner & Jacobson, 2000, Martell, Addis & Jacobson, 2001) These areas are greatly emphasized because they alter the client’s beliefs of the world aroun d them and eventually how they choose to resolve their inner problems or conflicts which are evident in behaviour. According to Beck, Rush, Shaw and Emery (1979 p. 118) mentioned in Jacobson, Mortell and Dimidjian 2007, p. 257 ‘the aim of this therapy to bring about change in the clients negative outlook in life’. The beliefs and expectations of a person indecent in his cognitive make up ultimately affect behaviour.The behavioral activation therapy recognizes that some depressions and subsequently panic attack may be or a result of genetic predisposition, it greatly emphases environmental factors as a great a preventative measure for depression maintenance. Course of treatment Paula’s treatment will commence with the establishment of therapeutic rapport with the therapist while they discuss the objectives and goals for the therapy and the sessions. This will be achieved by encouraging Paula to ask questions and be as comfortable as possible during the sessions.Pa ula and the therapist will explore the implications that her depression has had on Paula’s life for instance she lacks a social life, she cannot do her daily tasks any more, she will lose her job and so on. Under this treatment the therapist will be performing some functional analysis on Paula to gauge how well Paula is responding to treatment. For example, she should be able to start driving her car to work and performing her duties at work. The use of home works will be helpful to both Paula and the therapist in finding areas that the therapy should concentrate on.The therapy sessions will also explore the strategies that Paula should use to avoid a relapse. Paula intervention plan The first step in her treatment plan is to get her to talk more about her unpleasant life experiences. So far she has registered commendable progress into talking about her father and her young brother. When she first came in she was fidgety and kept checking her pulse over her neck. She had a pa nic stricken look but now she has relaxed a little.It is impossible to accurately state the duration that Paula might take to show full recovery since depression can be hard to overcome with the lack of proper support systems and the troubling environment at her workplace. Nonetheless, Paula sounds really determined to get over this problem and regain full control of her life. A two hour session with the psychiatrist thrice a week for a month and once a week for the following two months is recommended. This will be flexible enough for Paula to manage work and treatment. The significant people in Paula life i. e.family and coworkers need to give Paula all the support she needs to overcome this milestone. This is because her depression is not just an inner problem but the environment also triggers her attacks. The boss could encourage Paula to take some early days off and maybe some days be allowed to work from home until she is ready to work full time. The mother needs to continue be ing there for her daughter but on the other hand encourage her to be more independent. This will ensure that she is strong enough to handle life situations on her own and avoid a relapse in case she dies.The coworkers may be a bit more supportive when she experiences panic attacks and let her know it is nothing to be ashamed of. Again, Paula should expand her social networks and support system and this will a particular area where she will be trained during therapy sessions. Paula seems to over think her situations and the events in her life. A case in point is where she is quick to say that her coworkers will recommend she be transferred to the mail room because of the panic attacks. She feels that she should ‘never’ have an attack at the office again.She says ‘everyone will laugh and say look at the retard at it again. ’ She also seems to have planned out her suicide and thought of the consequences i. e. she would go to hell, it would be painless if she o verdosed on Aspirin, she would play some sad music, the suicide letter and other details fully planned. This seems to be Paula’s pattern of thinking and it is detrimental. In therapy, I will be interested in activating Paula’s spontaneity and her ability to accept her vulnerabilities and limitations towards having a fuller life. Measuring progressIn order to gauge progress on Paula’s treatment the therapist should be able to find improvements in Paula’s frequency of panic attacks. Ideally, they should reduce in the first month of treatment significantly. Additionally, her patterns of avoidance will be evaluated to see how well she is able to confront her fears. (Carr, 2001). For example, she avoids getting close to any man who might show interest in her hence stays away from social scenes like movies theatres and social gatherings. She also marks all the exit points to a place just incase she suffers another panic attack.Driving is also a problem to her a nd she has to be driven by her mother. She also avoids going out doors and stays in mostly where treatment will be effective, Paula should be able to take on her daily activities and develop healthy relationships with new people. The therapist will also make use of homework whereby Paula can try to engage in a task she feels prohibitive or unable to handle and see how well or not she manages the situation. This homework will allow her to self monitor her own progress and in therapy session discuss the feelings of accomplishment and pleasure derived from engaging in that activity.Results of the actions So far Paula has impressively shed light on her life. She has made the first big step towards treatment and that is the resolution to seek professional help. The diagnosis is that Paula is suffering from panic disorder which overlaps severe depression. She has had traumatic life experiences and suppressed them sufficiently. However she has reached a point where the emotions and negativ e psychological beliefs can no longer be bottled up hence the frequent panic attacks.The panic attacks have greatly eroded her self-esteem to a point that she planned a suicide although did not execute it. After evaluating her case I recommend psychiatric assessment just to ascertain this diagnosis so that the next level of therapy i. e. relaxation therapy and psychoanalysis can commerce. Although Paula is not actively keen on attempting another suicide, the risk is inherent and she needs close monitoring by her family and friends before and during therapy until she is strong enough to stand on her own.Paula should enroll in an activity that will enable her to think outside herself and her problems as well as boost her self-esteem. Yoga and social gatherings will particularly do her a lot of good. (Gortner & Jacobson, 2000). Lastly but importantly, Paula’s GP and cardiologist input would also be necessary in affirming this diagnosis so that Paula is well convinced that her pa nic attacks are purely psychological and not heart attack related. This will encourage her to continue the treatment. ConclusionPanic attacks are surmountable behavior activation therapy is a good way of assisting clients who suffer these attacks. The collaborative relationship between the client and the therapist should be useful in uncovering the depression in clients who suffer depression. The patterns of avoidance that Paula has developed such as avoiding relationships and friendships with others, avoiding social places staying away from work among others are crippling to Paula’s life and need to be confronted. Paula has to find a way of dealing with her problems in healthy ways. Behavioral therapy Behavioral therapy is also known as behavioral modification. It is a psychological method based on the principle that one can change the badly adjusted, maladaptive, observable, specific and self destructive behavior, through learning new and more suitable behaviors (Skinner, p 194). The origin of this theory can be traced back to the school of behaviorism which indicates that one can scientifically study psychological matters through observation of overt behavior without necessarily involving interior psychological states.Skinners theory of behaviorism accepted and supported that internal state could be part of a certain kind of behavior without necessarily being the main cause; however, he declared that through environmental manipulation, one could improve on them. The behavioral theorists include Hans Eysenck, Joseph Wolpe, Harry Solomon, Ogden Lindsley and B. F Skinner and they all had different ways of looking at behavioral problems. Eysenck’s perspective saw behavioral p roblem as connection between one’s behavior, the environment and personality characteristics. For the sake of this study, I will focus on B.F skinner’s behavioral theory (Skinner, p 198). Origin of behavioral therapy Edward Thorndike did experiments to discover the ability of dogs and cats to solve problems. He constructed wooden crates and he would cage the animals each in their own crate. The animals would escape from the crates. Though initially he just wanted to show that dogs and cats’ achievement could be controlled, he realized that he could measure the intelligence of these animals using his tools (Lindsley, p 34). He would set the animals for the same kind of task and observe how long it took to complete the given task.He learnt that there was no difference in performance between the animals that started an assignment and the ones that first observed the others performing (Skinner, p 89). He also learnt that when an animal did something that made it to successfully get out of the box; the animal was likely to repeat that action when faced by the same kind of problem. He concluded that reward reinforces the relationship between stimulus and action. He later formalized it to be called the law of effect (Skinner, p 199). Classical conditioning theory then came to explain that there is an association between reflex and the neutral stimulus.Watson used rats in his experiments to improve on the law of effect and apply it in behaviorism. He made a maze which the rats were supposed to follow. Once they had mastered the routes, he started putting blocks at different points of the maze (Skinner, p 94). If a route was blocked, the rats would then follow another route indicating that they had memory. Once the second route was blocked they would follow the other available route. He observed that when the reward for an action done was less, then the rats performed the task more slowly (Lindsley, p76). B.F Skinner came to improve on Thorndike an d Watson’s work by studying objectively behavior sequences over a prolonged period of time. He came up with the concept of operant conditioning which related the operant response and the reinforcement. This theory is based on the proposal that learning could help in change of overt behavior. People change their behavior as a result response to the occurrences in their surroundings. A given response leads to a certain outcome. When one reinforces a certain pattern of Stimulus-Response, a person’s response becomes conditioned (Skinner, p 97).The key element in this theory is reinforcement; this is anything that supports the response that is desired. Reinforcement could be positive or negative. Positive reinforcement makes one be encouraged to do more of the action that led to positive results. It includes attaining satisfaction after doing something, being recognized, being praised for work well done among others. Negative reinforcement on the other hand involves the act ions that make one increase the frequency of responses once a certain stimulus is withdrawn. Aversive stimulus results to the reduction of responses (Skinner, p 200).When considering this theory, schedules of reinforcement are considered to be very important. Principles under this theory are that positively reinforced behavior is very likely to reoccur. Shaping is also a principle that states that in order to reinforce behavior, information should be provided in small amounts. Stimulus generalization principles talks of reinforcement being generalized across stimuli that are similar to the original one (Lindsley, p 56). Behavior modification using B. F Skinner’s theory Behavior modification refers to a straight forward therapy technique that bases its arguments on skinner’s theory.It indicates that one can extinguish the unwanted behavior through the removal of the reiforcer and at the same time, behavior that is desired can be obtained and maintained via reinforcement . This argument has been used in solving many psychological problems. It is the preferred method when dealing with children. Other disorders which can be corrected using this therapy are anxiety disorders, phobias, eating disorders, anger management, aggressive behavior and substance use. All these are eliminated through changing the activities and behavior that may have contributed to such disorders (Skinner, p 96).Token economy is a derivative of behavior modification and it is used in institutions like prisons, juveniles, and psychiatric hospitals. This involves giving tokens to these people whenever they behave in a certain required way. When they revert to poor habits, the tokens are withdrawn. This is one way of behavior modifications that these institutions have used in order to keep order within the institutions. At times, Behavioral therapy methods are brought together with additional psychological involvements like medication (Skinner, p 197).This technique uses the follow ing approaches when using behavioral therapy to change a negative behavior to a positive one; systematic desensitization, flooding, behavior modification, prevention of exposure and response, operant conditioning, observational learning, contingency management, matching law, habit reversal training and covert conditioning (Lindsley, p72). Best fit patients for behavior therapy Behavioral therapy can be used as a tool to treat various problems like mental illnesses and their symptoms especially those that have maladaptive behavior.These conditions include phobias, eating disorders, anger management, aggressive behavior and substance use. Organic disorders like insomnia and incontinence could also be handled using the behavioral techniques (Skinner, p 205). This technique works very well in the treatment process of obesity. This process starts with the analysis of the activity and eating patterns in addition to other habits like dieting methods. After all this information is collected , the therapist uses it to come up with positive methods that can be used to promote weight loss, a positive self image and get healthier eating practices.The therapist does an analysis to the behavioral cause of stress in a patient. An appropriate method of treatment is then established. Cognitive therapy This therapy focuses in altering the bad behavior through changing the patterns of thinking behind them. It involves the emotions and the thoughts of the individual and the way they can be changed so that this person starts behaving more appropriately. This therapy can be used to correct many disorders like schizophrenia, autism, shyness, neurosis, stress disorders, attention deficit disorders, social phobias, mental disorders and addictions (McCullough, Para 24).It involves helping patients to triumph over difficult situations and modifying dysfunctional emotional, behavior and thinking responses. Treatment is all about bringing together the beliefs of the client and those of the therapist and testing them. It may also include testing the kind of assumptions an individual makes in life and also identifying the extent of distortion of thoughts that renders them unhelpful and unrealistic (Kohlenberg, p 234). Once the therapist challenges the way an individual thinks about something, that person is likely to change the way of thinking.Initially, this therapy was used to treat people suffering from depression. Beck came up with a list which contained ‘errors’ in thinking. He suggested that the errors maintained depression. They included selective abstraction, minimizing positives and magnifying negatives, over generalization and arbitrary inference (Kohlenberg, p 234). Historical development of cognitive therapy The theory of cognitive therapy came to be more than 50 years ago and it suggested that thoughts act as a go-between to stimuli like emotions and external events.A stimulus brings out a thought which can be a weighed up judgement of a kind and this further leads to a certain emotion. People’s evaluation of thought about a certain stimulus is what results to an emotional response and not necessarily the stimulus itself. Beck also came up with the etiological theory of depression under cognitive therapy. The theory indicated that people think negatively because their thinking is inclined to negative interpretations. People suffering from depression acquire negative schemas which are important ways through which information about the future; the world and the self are processed.These schemas are adopted early in life maybe during childhood or puberty as a result of going through stressful events in life. When such people come across situations that are similar to the ones in which the negative schemata was established, it becomes activated in the current situation (Kohlenberg, p 235). Beck also explained about the negative cognitive triad which constitutes negative biases and negative schemata. He proposed that pe ople who are depressed are very likely to make unconstructive evaluations of their future, world and selves.Depressed people are impossibility thinkers according to Beck. The cognitive triad indicates that a negative schema results to cognitive bias which fuels negative schema (Kohlenberg, p 237). Researchers suggested that depression could occur as a result of responding to perceived or imaginary loss. It could also be caused by self critical characteristics of the ego. Many psychologists wrote about cognitive features of depression trying to identify the cognitive components that caused depression. They also tried to develop many cognitive intercessions that could be used to treat depression.Since then, there have been many successful cases of patients suffering from depression getting well through cognitive therapy. His theory was opposed by behaviorists who claimed that mental causes of problem was unmeaningful and non scientific. With time, it was merged with the behavioral the rapy so as to deal with the problems that it could not have dealt with on its own (Kohlenberg, p 240). Strategies under cognitive therapy Cognitive therapy uses two strategies i. e. emotional focused and problem focused strategies.The problem focused strategy aim at directing the client in the process of identifying the problem. The therapist then helps the client to identify the responses that are utilized in the process of reducing distress in a situation. They are also evaluated to check how effective they are. The therapist and the client then develop and examine alternative responses to see how beneficial they can be to a client. When faced with a stressful situation, the client feels empowered to make mindful alternatives and chose among them the best way in which to respond.This gives the patient a kind of control over situations as they try different methods of getting out of distressful situations (McCullough, Para 32). Emotional focused strategies also aim to get the same outcomes as the other strategy. This perspective aims to alter the perception of the client on the distressing event. It therefore helps in changing the level of perceived suffering. The client is helped to redefine the problem which aids in the transformation of a disaster into a challenge or even an opportunity.The process of restructuring the event can be achieved through various ways like selective attention, distancing, minimization, and looking for constructive value from any given bad situation. When all these happen, the patients get the feeling that he is in control of the situation and this contributes to reduce the levels of stress (Kohlenberg, p 245). Best fit patients for cognitive therapy Since this technique was discovered, the most common condition that it has treated is depression.Patients who have depression are allowed to undergo self evaluation to check whether they act, say and do things the way they are supposed to do and how the patient views all these. Skills deficits are also established so that the therapist can know the source of the problem. Life experiences in terms of how satisfied the patient has been by the kind of life that he has lived (McCullough, p 24). The expectations of the patient are also evaluated in order to know how realistic they are. The therapist checks on the kind of self talk that the patient usually has.If it is negative, then it could be a source of depression since the patient seems not to believe in his capabilities and this could lead to negative repercussions like being fired (Kohlenberg, p 254). The process goes on to evaluate the kind of automatic thought that the patient has. In most cases, there is consistency in that a person who usually has positive automatic thought is likely to have them, in most situations and the same case applies to negative automatic thoughts. Irrationality or rationality of ideas is evaluated because irrational ideas could cause depression.Depressed patients tend to generalize in most cases. The therapist works to find out the extent of generalization in his depressed patients. Cognitive distortion is also checked so that the therapist can be in a position to tell the extent of depression. Optimism versus pessimism is evaluated given different situations. All these are ways through which therapists can know the causes of depression and get ways of tackling it (McCullough, p 25). Comparison and contrast between behavioral and cognitive therapyBehavioral therapy focuses on how one can change from bad behavior through strategies like reinforcement. On the other hand, cognitive therapy focuses on how there can be a change of behavior due to a change in how a person thinks about a certain situation. While cognitive therapies deal with emotions and thoughts that direct a person towards behaving in a particular way, behavioral therapy on the pother hand focuses on how to change and eliminate the bad behavior (Kohlenberg, p 263). While behavioral therapy deals w ith observation of behavior, cognitive therapy deals with the cognitive elements.