Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Week 6 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Week 6 - Coursework Example Therefore, most businesses have to accept the existing preordained competition, by developing some unique measures of overcoming it. Organizations have to react by increasing the competition through cutting the price of their products, refining the quality of their products to fit clients preferences, use of new technology to overwhelm the rapid changes in quality and quality in productions. HTC is one of the enterprises that realize competition is growing everyday. The corporation, as a result, decided not to underrate the potential competition coming from different parts of the world. For that reason, HTC strived to provide unique and distinguished quality products through enhancing a creative and innovative environment. The corporation has successful fashioned a tranquil environment that is auspicious in endorsing creativity of it is employees through initiating the â€Å"magic labs† (Robbins, & Coulter, 2010). The personnel are encouraged to work on their own ideas which enable their imagination to turn into innovation. The corporation also has promoted creativity and innovation by studying the change of clients’ preferences. There is a resilient connection between workers happiness and creativity in the workplace. The level of creativity improves when employees are happier. Happy employees are optimistic and work in solidarity, thus strengthening crea tivity through sharing of knowledge; hence promoting inventiveness. Employees’ happiness is of prodigious significant in the workplace as it emboldens staff to be more productivity and high job performance. Happiness among employees remains imperative for they are 25% more effective and well-organized than the unhappy staff thus happy staff endorses high job performance and great productive. Happy workers are also 47% industrious than unhappy staff, as happy staff work in team-spirit and in a more optimistic way thus creating a favorable avenue for sharing concepts

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Effects of Advertisements on Children

Effects of Advertisements on Children An advertisement makes a consumer aware of available products which can then be used to influence a consumer’s buying behaviour through persuasion using creative content. Advertising to children is often categorised, with food and toys being the products mainly aimed towards them. However, this category is further developing to encompass music, games and technology. Advertising towards children is a large demographic for the marketer, due to them encompassing three different marketing opportunities, they are consumers, influencers on their parent’s buying behaviour and the future. McNeal (1987) suggested that the â€Å"future consumer† provides a larger marketing potential than the current consumer. Due to the marketer being able to create future brand loyal consumers, create brand knowledge and develop purchase behaviour. The marketer seeks to target children through advertising strategies such as the internet. Also advergaming, where a game involves an advertisement for a product. Due to the internet being an integral part of young culture, the marketer attempts to build a relationship between them and the consumer. This is completed through viral advertisements and behavioural targeting. Unlike television, the internet is unregulated and often children are left alone on the internet with no parental supervision. However, the easiest way to advertise to children is through television. Broadcasters Audience Research Board (2011) found that children aged four to nine watched on average seventeen hours of television a week. Furthermore, Smith (2001) found that in the UK two-thirds of children have a television in their bedroom as well as their tablets and mobile phones with online catch up television. One main concern around advertising towards children is whether it exploits them due to the advertisements aim to persuade the vulnerable. This exploitation can be referred to as the â€Å"seducers† upon the â€Å"innocents† as stated by Gunter, Oates and Blades (2005). Young children are unaware about the intent of advertisements as reported by Oates et al. (2003). The knowledge and understanding of advertising develops gradually and children are simply born with no knowledge and understanding â€Å"ready to be evolved and manipulated† as stated by Furnham (2000). Therefore, it is important to establish the different ages at which children achieve a mature understanding of advertisements in order to â€Å"protect† them. In order for children to be able to understand and evaluate advertising Young (1990) stated they must have two processing skills. First the ability to recognise persuasive intent and secondly be able to recognise the difference between an advertisement and a programme. Piaget and Cook (1952) found that a children’s stage in cognition determines their ability to comprehend advertising. They identified four stages of development, sensorimotor (birth to two years), pre-operational (two to seven years), concrete operational (seven to eleven years) and formal operational (eleven to adulthood), with each stage characterised by certain cognitive abilities. Distinguishing an advertisement from a programme is viewed as a vital first stage in understanding advertising as recognised by Gunter and Furnham (1998). It was suggested by Blatt, Spencer and Ward (1972) that children in the preoperational stage are able to distinguish advertisements from programs. They reported that children view advertisements as informative, truthful and entertaining and are not aware of the persuasive intent of advertising. Furthermore, Levin, Petros, and Petrella (1982) found that children as young as three years were able to make this distinction. Which was further supported by Blosser and Roberts (1985) found that by the age of five the majority of children have developed the ability to differentiate between advertisements and programmes. In contrast children in the concrete operational stage have been found to have developed a better understanding as they grow older and are less likely to believe the advertisements. Dorr (1986) found that it is between seven and nine years old that children begin to understand that advertisements are â€Å"trying to get people to buy something†. Smith (2001) found that as children begin to understand persuasive intent they also begin to appreciate the use of several techniques such as celebrity endorsement, choice of words, and tone of voice. Once children have reached ten years old they have developed enough understanding to appreciate the persuasive intent of advertisements as found by Bever et al. (1975). When children can understand the persuasive purpose of the advertisement, they are able to be critical and capable of resisting to change. Although, until children have developed this understanding and the adequate cognitive â€Å"defences† advertisements have a str ong influence on a development and thoughts. Nevertheless, due to children being a large demographic, the marketer takes advantage of their lack of understanding. They do this by designing marketing strategies to satisfy the needs of the children. These are then applied to their advertisements in order to target children effectively. Firstly, â€Å"pester power† meaning children harass their care givers to purchase products for them based on advertising they have seen as stated by Proctor and Richards (2002). The marketer is aware that their advertising produces desires for different products and this has been found to lead to â€Å"pester power† within children. Parker (2001) found that parents in the UK spend more when shopping in supermarkets with their children than without. Pester power can be used over long periods of time with children forming requests and demands in advance for their birthday and Christmas. Crouch (1999) found that children had often instigated their Christmas list before October. This pes tering has been found to lead to family arguments when parents are unable to afford the products or deem them as unsuitable as stated by Atkin (1978). It was reported by Adler et al (1980) that if a parent states that a toy is not appropriate, children with less viewing of advertisements were more likely to listen to their parent than children who had seen the advertisements. This is due to the advertisement enhancing the toy and persuading them it is a necessity. Secondly, techniques such as exaggeration are used by the marketer to further persuade the consumer and enhance their products. Claims such as â€Å"the best† and â€Å"better than† can be subjective and misleading. Bandyopadhyay, Kindra and Sharp (2001) stated that children are unable to recognise such techniques and effectively â€Å"fall† for the misleading information. Below the age of seven, children are more heavily affected by product factors and do not understand that appearances can differ from reality. Young children often believe that a product is exactly as it appears and will fail to realise that the advertisement was created to promote it in the best possible way. However, as Smith (2001) found children from the age of seven start to understand techniques therefore the use of such techniques have to be adapted to different age groups. Martensen and Hansen (2001) reported that children from the age of eight stated advertisements â€Å"cheat† i n that â€Å"things look better in the advertisement than in real life†. This inaccurate image of the product can lead to a negative attitude towards the advertisement and the product. Rossiter (1977) stated that children’s attitude in general towards advertising is negative stating â€Å"advertisements are annoying and they only state the good things and lie about the rest†. What they had seen as truthful and accurate when they were younger is now portrayed to be lying and deceptive. This attitude could further develop their image of the world. They may feel that, what and who they deem as truthful, could be lying and being deceitful making them feel untrustworthy towards others. Additionally, the marketer develops brand awareness and use brand positioning towards children in order to develop future brand loyalty. This is often by using characters from programmes or celebrities to produce a favourable attitude and develop relationships. Brand awareness has been defined by Keller (2003) as the extent to which a consumer can recognise and is familiar with an image of a brand and the qualities associated with it. Anderson and Bower (1974) state that brand awareness can be split into two steps. First step is the cognitive process to enable brand recognition and secondly brand recall, a consumer can recall and describe the brand. Both brand recognition and recall are important when making purchase decisions. Research by Haynes et al (1993) showed that children as young as three can recognise and name brands before they can read and Schmidt (2003) found children as young as six months old can develop mental images of a logo. Furthermore, Hite and Hite (1995) showed that children from the age of two are able to recognise branded products and would choose these over other unbranded alternatives. Children will favour certain brands and products due to the relationship they have formed as children, creating nostalgia, as found by Ji (2002). Knowing this the marketer use their advertising to develop a foundation when children are in their early stages of learning and development. Product advertising emphasises branded products and places importance on purchasing not just a product, but a lifestyle that this product portrays, as stated by Hahlo (1999). If these products are unable to be purchased feelings of discontent and inadequacy develop. Branded advertising promotes undesirable social values, such as materialism. In addition, children are often taught to celebrate events such as Christmas in a commercial manner. Pine and Nash (2002) found that children who watched television asked for more branded presents on their Christmas list. The pressure to buy a particular brand leads to a conformity and can often pressure parents and make them feel guilty. Furthermore, advertising has been criticised for causing health problems within children such as obesity as stated by Dalmeny et al. (2003). A large proportion of advertising aimed at children promote food or drinks. Lewis and Hill (1998) reported almost a third, of advertisements shown to children are based on unhealthy food such as sweets. Galst and White (1976) found a correlation between the recall of food advertisements, requests when shopping and what children eat. Halford et al. (2004) stated that the majority of television advertising is directed towards children eating surgery foods such as sweets and fizzy drinks. Overall, if children are unable to fully understand the intent of advertising they may need â€Å"protecting† from it and the techniques used. Individuals who are against advertising towards children claim that it is unethical. This is due to their lack of cognitive abilities and understanding to resist the advertising messages before the age of seven. It is said to be unethical to advertise to these children under seven until they have developed â€Å"cognitive defences†. In addition, children below the age of seven are unable to distinguish between advertising fantasy and reality in advertisements. Therefore this can distort their view on the world. The internet alone raises many ethical issue. Various internet pages are designed so children are able to avoid adult supervision and then the underage consumer is able to be pressured to purchase products. Furthermore, ethical issues arise in terms of the promotional content such as humour and violence when advertising ga mes. What one consumer might find interesting, fun and funny may be offensive to others and be seen as unethical. However, Furnham (2000) believe that advertising has little effect upon children’s development and learning and that current regulations are sufficient. Proctor and Richards (2002) state that peer pressure, conformity and social factors are more effective and persuasive in creating the desires of a particular product than advertisements. To reduce the effects of advertising and the ethical issues this develops, children should be educated to help them understand the aim of advertising. Furnham (2000) argued teaching children the aim of advertising was more effective than changing regulations that are in place. Children can be taught and further informed about the nature of advertising and discuss products with their parents and other family members. Teaching children can enable them to be an effective consumer at a young age. In addition, parents can help them to understand advertisements motives and the difference between fantasy and reality, thus neutralising some of the powerful messages their children are exposed to. However, relying on parents is limited due to children having their own televisions, tablets and phones. With children having their own technology parents are unable to sit with them, monitor and discuss advertisements. Though, parents are still able to teach and explain advertising intent during sho pping trips or when they request products. However, this is based on the assumption that parents understand the advertising themselves and have the knowledge to teach their children. Overall, it is unrealistic to expect marketing companies to stop their advertising to children due to their consumption power. However, they should do so ethically and be aware of their responsibility as a communicator to children. As several researchers have shown children do not begin to develop understanding until they are seven and therefore advertising should not be shown to children before this age. Although, parents have a duty to protect the vulnerable children and therefore teach their children about advertising intent.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Activity and Impact Training Essay -- essays research papers

I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ACTIVITY TRAINING TO IMPACT TRAINING A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Training for Activity 1. The HRD dept. is held accountable for its activity, not for its results  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is no formal output of results so managers are left to decide weather it is beneficial or not. 2. The HRD staff is held accountable for design and delivery of training programs.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In training for activity, trainers are held accountable for the number of programs they deliver or design.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  80% of their time is activity so there’s little time left to do needs assessment or research.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Organizations that operate with the training for activity approach are looked at being non-productive or not working if not present in the classroom. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Skill Transfer from the classroom to the job is unknown or absent.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With an evaluation the skills and knowledge regarding the job cannot be determined.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  HRD professionals using this method rarely consider strategies that would guarantee a high degree of skill transfer.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On-the-job application is viewed as the responsibility for providing the participant and his or her boss. The HRD dept. is responsible for providing the participants with skills and knowledge. (where little to no transfer occurs) 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is a lack of clear alignment with business needs.  · A lot of the courses are out of date.  · Without a clear business need managers are sometimes reluctant   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   and against training programs.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is a lack of identified management responsibility for results.  · No one person or group of people has accepted accountability for ensuring that the skills taught will be used on the job. BUSINESS NEEDS FOR AN ALTERNATIVE TRAINING APPORACH One of the criticisms most commonly leveled and HRD professionals today is that they lack business savvy and do not speak the language of business. Business language requires HRD professionals to consider the return to the organization for dollars spend on training. Billions of dollars are spent on training and dev... ...in or lose from this effort. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While he client can involve others, someone in the client group must be in the chain of command of the learners. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The client receives all reports regarding the project. METHODS FOR IDENTIFY THUE CLIENTS DIRECT METHODS: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ask client to have all involved in project present. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ask about key individuals. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Indicate concern at not including the necessary individuals in the meeting. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Listen carefully to names being mentioned. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Always ask questions for involvement. INDIRECT METHODS: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ask questions that will determine if your contact is reporting to someone else. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Encourage through a meeting that contact invite the client. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If your contact needs permission from someone else ask that they invite that person. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After each meeting write a memo summarizing all that took place as well as the outcomes. Send a copy to the client.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Objectives and Measurement

The main goals that hard core will be aimed at achieving for a period of one year are:-1. To improve the health statues of people by serving a minimum of 50customers per day.   The main objective of hard core is to improve the health status of the people.   For the start a minimum of 50 customers will be served within one day.   People will be advices on the diets to take so that their health status improves.   Teachings on maintaining the required weight shall also be offered.Our customers shall be taught on the kind of lifestyle to lead in order to keep their bodies strong and free from preventable diseases.   Also our customers shall be educated on the kind of exercised to carry out regularly so as to maintain their bodies and remain strong.   Also educate our customer about nutrition values of various foods.   We shall ensure that a minimum of 50 customers have been served per day.2. To ensure 99% efficiency in offering quality services.   We shall ensure that any service offered by hard core is within the best standards.   Health issues are very crucial and sensitive to somebody’s life.   A small mistake can lead to the death or deterioration of the health of a customer.   Therefore we look forward to offering the best services to our customers.3. To buy 30 equipments by the end of the year for the start hardcore shall be having the basic equipments for weight measurements, skin treatment, and body massage to ensure a smooth running during the start.   But as time will go by hardcore targets at buying 30 equipments for offering our trainings.4.To reduce the cost of services by 10% compared to our competitors for hardcore to expand and have more customers it will be charging lower prices to all the services it will be offering our prices will be lower by 10% compared to those charged by our competitors.5. To build one big recreational hall for practicing by the year 2009.   Hardcore has got many professionals like nutritioni st, dietitians, naturopathic doctors, dermatologist, the rapist, personal trainers, fitness instructors, physical therapist and psychiatrist.   Each and everyone of this professional require his own room. This room should be enough and spacious to accommodate at least four people and some equipments.   So for hardcore to be efficient in offering all its services a recreational hall should be build by the year 2009.6. To buy at least five televisions sets for our customers to be watching while waiting to be served by the end of year 2008.   Hardcore should buy at least five televisions that will be installed at the halls to keep customers busy as they wait to be served.   These television sets should also be used to offer basic teaching to customers to issues like diets, nutrition, prevention of diseases, the importance of maintaining health bodies.   Therefore these televisions will assist offering some basic teachings to our customers.7. To increase our monthly sales by 1 0% by the year 2009/ hardcore will have its own retail shop.   This shop will be selling equipments for homes, clothing, other supplements and nutritional valued light foods and drinks to compliment the services it offers.   Hardcore will target at increasing its monthly sales by 10% as from the year 2009.8. To own our own  ½ acre piece of land by the year 2009. For hardcore to offer its services efficiently it need to won  ½ on acre piece of land by 2009.10. To have a well trained team of 90 professionals within the first 6 months of starting.   Hardcore should have at least 90 well trained professionals like nutritionists, dietitians, naturopathic doctors, dermatologist, therapist and many more others.   These professionals are the once to ensure that hard core is fulfilling its main mission of improving the health status of its customers.Performance MeasurementPerformance measurement is vital in all organizations because the organizations need to verify the validity o f the selection methods; they also need to do performance measurement in order to improve productivity of the organization.As much as this may seem an important and key aspect of management, still it has a lot more difficulties associated with it. Some of the main factors that may make performance measurement to be more challenging are the measurement problems that make it impossible the supervisors (those in charge of the performance measurement) to tell the juniors or subordinates that they are below the average standards.How should the organization deal with such situations? In order for organizations to do performance measurement well, then they should carefully study the job, systematically and scientifically, in order to determine the nature and characteristics of the job, knowledge, skills and experience required for the successful performance of the job.They should collect all the vital information related to the job. They should then look at the specific individual tasks th at comprise the job and qualifications necessary to do the job. This is called job analysis that involves determining the content of the job in terms of what the worker is expected to do, methods and techniques used, and lastly, the conditions and skills required for the job.For proper job measurement, the management must adopt the following process and the methods of job measurements that follow:Management should identify and isolate the component tasks of the job. They should examine when, why and the tasks are done. Find out the duties and responsibilities involved in the job. Identify the working conditions involved in the job. Determine the demands which the job has on the job holder. Know the job relationships. After gathering all these, management can now use the methods of job measurement to know whether the job is being done s it is supposed to be done. The various methods of job measurement include:Performance ratingCritical incidentMBOPerformance RatingUnder performance r ating values such as creativity, initiative, dependability, knowledge etc assigned to the job and the rating is presented on a scale like this and questions are asked.To what extent does this person demonstrate creativity and then the scores given for the question give the rating of the employee.This method has a number of problems like:a) Managers may be inclined to give everyone a high rating and hence failure to differentiate them.b) Managers may tend to be influenced by most recent performance rather than general performance.Critical IncidentGood and bad performance incidents are recorded at the end of the period. The more the good performance incidents the better the employee. The major problem is that this type of job measurement is comparative and qualitative and cannot determine the actual performance on the job.MBOHere the performance of the job is rated as per the objectives set at the begging of the period i.e. sales targets set as 15% and then the sale representative get s 15%, he will get a positive sales performance order and vice versa.For this method of appraisal to be effective there must be a clear understanding between the employer and the employee at the point of setting the objectives. The authority and recourses necessary to achieve the objectives must be delegated to the managers.ReferencesLnick F. John and WillinLee Ziegler, sales promotion and modern Merchandising, McGraw Hill.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Malaysian Court System

This consists of the High Court of Malaya, the High Court of Sabah & Sarawak, the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court. The Federal Court is the highest court of the land. High CourtsThe High Courts have general supervisory and revisionary jurisdiction over all the Subordinate Courts and hear appeals from the Subordinate Courts in civil and criminal matters. They hear matters relating to the validity or dissolution of marriage (divorce) and matrimonial causes, bankruptcy and companies winding up matters, guardianship or custody of children, grants probates of wills and letters of administration of deceased persons, injunctions, specific performance or rescissions of contracts, legitimacy of any persons and generally actions of which the claim exceeds RM250,000-00 (except motor vehicle accidents, landlord and tenant and distress). The High Courts have powers to hear all criminal matters. Court of AppealGenerally, the Court of Appeal hears all civil appeals against decisions of the High Courts except where against judgment or orders made by consent. In cases where the claim is less than RM250,000-00 or the judgment or order relates to costs only or against decisions of a judge in chambers on an interpleader summons on undisputed facts, leave of the Court of Appeal must first be obtained. The Court of Appeal also hears criminal appeals against decisions of the High Courts. Federal CourtAll civil appeals from the Court of Appeal are heard by the Federal Court only after leave is granted by the Federal Court. The Federal Court also hears criminal appeals from the Court of Appeal only in respect of matters heard by the High Court in its original jurisdiction. THE SUBORDINATE COURTS This consists of the Sessions Courts, the Magistrates' Courts and in West Malaysia the Penghulu's Courts. Penghulu's CourtsGenerally, the Penghulu's Courts hear civil matters of which the claim does not exceed RM50-00 and where the parties are persons of Asian race and speaking and understanding the Malay language. The Penghulu's Court’s criminal jurisdiction is limited to offences of a minor nature charged against a person of Asian race of which is specially enumerated in his â€Å"kuasa† which can be punished with a fine not exceeding RM25-00. Magistrates' CourtsThe Magistrates' Courts hear all civil matters of which the claim does not exceed RM25,000-00. Generally in criminal matters, the Magistrates' Courts have power to try all offences of which the maximum term of imprisonment does not exceed 10 years or which are punishable with fine only but may pass sentences not exceeding 5 years imprisonment, fine not exceeding RM10,000-00 and/or whipping up to 12 strokes. The Magistrates' Courts also hear appeals from the Penghulu's Courts. Sessions CourtsThe Sessions Courts hear all matters of which the claim exceeds RM25,000-00 but does not exceed RM250,000-00 except in matters relating to motor vehicle accidents, landlord and tenant and distress, where the Sessions Courts have unlimited jurisdiction. The Sessions Courts have powers to hear all criminal matters except for offences punishable with death and may pass any sentences allowed by law except the sentence of death. Small Claims Civil claims not exceeding RM5,000-00 where the party pursuing the claim is an individual (i. e. not a company or agent/assignee of debts) are brought before the Magistrates' Courts pursuant to the small claims procedure where legal representations are strictly prohibited. You may fill in the Form 164 (Summons and Statement of Claim) which is available upon request at the Subordinate Courts Building by following the instructions found on the Form. You may also consult a lawyer but you cannot be represented by him at the hearing.