Briefly comment on the communication research report Essay Example for Free

Briefly comment on the communication research report Essay With rapid advancement of new communication technologies, people currently can freely and actively express their own opinions in the new media. For example, the Internet has dramatically changed the ways in which some individuals receive news and information, this is very big different from the traditional forms of communication. However, there are some correlation links between traditional mass communication ways and modern new technology ways(Kotcher,1992;Rubin, 1994). Roberts M, Wanta, W and Dzwo, T (2002) examined one aspect of the Internet: electronic bulletin boards (EBBs). The objective of this study is to investigate if traditional news media sources have an agenda-setting impact on the discussions taking place on the EBBs. In other words, the purpose of the study is to examine the agenda-setting process and the role it may play on the Internet. The reports dominant methodology is quantitative. As we know, it is a critical issue that appropriate methodology should be taken depending on different research topic. Quantitative approach and qualitative approach have their respective advantages and disadvantages (Fowler, 1993). Quantitative research, through surveys, gathers data about peoples knowledge, opinions, attitudes and behavior. Quantitative research approach is used to generate new knowledge for evidence-based practice. Attention will be given to the advantages and disadvantages of Quantitative research designs for large group research, the principles of reliability and validity, the value of descriptive and inferential statistics and the importance of ethical research conduct. For the topic, it belongs to sociology category, so I think the researchers have used appropriate research approach (quantitative research approach) even though the approach has some disadvantages. This is because quantitative research approach for this topic has the following advantages: Large members of people can be studies; the method is relatively quick and relatively cheap; the results are reliable, and representative of a much wider population than that directly investigated, the personal influence of the research on the results is slight and the data can easily be expressed in statistical form. This enables comparisons to be made between different groups and populations. For this study, the researchers use Internet, its main advantages are low/moderate cost to design; low cost to send; quick to analyse data; easy for respondent to complete and can attach brochures, images, etc. However, Every survey methodology has its weaknesses, and online surveys are no exception. Not sure who is answering the survey. Like mail studies, it is difficult to insure the desired person actually answers the survey. Not representative of the population. The Internet population has a slight bias towards younger, more computer literate users, though this is changing all the time and becoming more representative of the population. Long surveys are more difficult. The personalities of todays online users makes it difficult to coerce respondents into completing long surveys. Not a mainstream research methodology, yet. With more experience and comparative analyses of online surveys versus mail and telephone results, online surveys should reach the same level of acceptance as other methodologies. For this research, the researchers use EBBs which has the above weaknesses too. For the researchs method, the researchers use five steps (Roberts, 2002, P456-458): The first step imperative examines whether traditional news media sources have an agenda-setting impact on the discussions taking place on the EBBs. They ask Do individuals take issue information gained from news media and pass information about this issue online to other electronic bulletin board users? The second step is selecting the sample. The third step deals with defining categories, time frames, coding units, and context units. The fourth step is content analysis and the final and fifth step of content analysis process is to analyze and interpret the data. The five steps are typical research method that is used by many researchers (McMillan, 2000) and they are very similar with the quantities analysis approach (the Scientific Method) which includes seven steps: Defining the problem; Developing a Model; Acquiring Input Data; Developing a Solution; Testing the Solution; Analyzing the Results and Implementing the Results (Render, 1982). The researchers use an ARIMA model cross-correlational test showed EBB discussions of three issuesimmigration, health care, and taxes-correlated with news media coverage, with time lags varying from 1 day to 7 days. In my opinion, the method is appropriate method for the topic. This investigation looks for a more powerful effect than previous agenda-setting researchers. Because of the Internets dynamic characteristic of transmitting information from senders to receivers, researchers currently assume that our traditional theories of mass communication can directly apply to online communication (Wimmer, 1994). The researches have an accurate research questions or hypothesis that are: how will the new online communication forms affect the agenda-setting process? Can we assume that the transfer of salience still follows the original hypothesis? How does the condensed and compressed environment of online communication affect what we know about time frame effects? All these questions are explored in their study. By quantitative research, the researchers concluded: The results demonstrate the usefulness of examining the rule the Internet plays in the agenda-setting process. Media coverage apparently can provide individuals with information to use in their Internet discussions. As the Internet continues to become an important source of information, it also will become an important area for mass communication researchers. (Roberts, 2002, P464). The report also recommended future research should link other mass communication theoretical approaches with Internet usage. Despite the research has some definite problems; online research has many more advantages than disadvantages. When surveying populations, which mimic the demographics of online users, online research can be a primary means of information collection. With other populations, online research can be effective as a supplement to more traditional survey approaches or as a quick impression of your customers (much like qualitative approaches are used). For outlook, as the Internet continues to grow in popularity, investigations of the content of information being sent online similarly will increase in importance. The study takes an important step in linking the Internet to a mainstream mass communication theory. References Kotcher, R. L. (1992). The technological revolution has transformed crisis communication. Public Relations Quarterly, 37(3), 19-21. Rubin, R. , P. Palmgreen, and H. Sypher (1994 eds. ), Communication Research Measures: A Sourcebook, New York: Guilford. Roberts, et al (2002), Agenda setting and issue salience online. Communication Research, Vol. 29 No. 4, August 452-465. Fowler, Floyd J. , Jr (1993). Survey Research Methods, 2nd ed. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. McMillan, S. J. (2000). The microscope and the moving target: The challenge of applying content analysis to the World Wide Web. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 77, 80-98. Render, B and Stair, R. M (1982). Quantitative Analysis for Management ( The Second Edition). New York: Library of congress Cataloging in Publication Data. Wimmer, R. D. and J. R. Dominick (1994), Mass Media Research: An Introduction, 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Scarface, Directed by Brian De Palma Essay -- Scarface Al Pacino

Scarface, Directed by Brian De Palma Tony Montana has taken just so much shit his whole life. He’s been oppressed and repressed and mocked and called a spic and turned on by his own country (Cuba) that he’s just not going to take any shit anymore. He’ll shoot someone just for pissing him off, which is almost admirable, or at the very least understandable. I’m not advocating violence; all I’m saying is that we all have our limits and if someone treated me the way Tony Montana had been treated his whole life – if they spit on me, and degraded me, and mocked me and doubted any power I might have, I might want to prove them wrong. Of course, it’s a movie, and we know it well; Scarface with Al Pacino as the Cuban immigrant turned drug lord with his mountains of coke and his beautiful but, basically dead, wife, Elvira, living what he believes is the American dream. Elvira, Tony’s wife, played perfectly by Michelle Pfieffer, is beautiful and so cool she’s ice cold, whose only job is to be an ornament, and who comes from somewhere in Baltimore, we’re told, and whose only goal, it seems, is to just be taken care of by all these rich and violent thugs. She doesn’t seem phased by all the guns and underworld thugs that hang around the house, but then, her nose is so packed full of coke that this is not really a surprise. Most of the time, she’s got this false cocaine-calm aloofness that lends itself to comparisons with a mannequin. Her power and her trump is that ultimately, we get the sense that it’s a role she’s chosen – not one that was ever put upon her. That it’s all within her control. Men like Tony Montana are brought to their knees by her cool beauty and icy aloofness. She’s like coke they can’t buy or trade or snort or get enough of, but surely as powerful . But ultimately, she’s just some middle-class chick form Baltimore who was probably really bored and moved to Miami for some excitement. She’s a bitch. As Tony says to her, â€Å"You got a look like you haven’t been fucked in a year.† And it’s true. Maybe she knows her power is in the withholding, but this can only last for so long; a tease works because ultimately, there has to be something at the end of it. If it’s all attitude and cock tease, after a while, that gets boring and the furthest thing from sexy. Something’s gotta give. Tony Montana wants, as he says, â€Å"what’s coming to me,† which is â€Å"t... ...e power of all this seduction so that at the critical moment we can say â€Å"No†. We choose power over fucking and engaging with another human being, and we do this because of fear. Because in this age of psychotherapy, were everything is a fucking issue (pun intended) as if our boyfriend cheating or leaving us would cause a complete breakdown, as it has and does for so many girls today. Girls today, with few exceptions, don’t get back out there like Carole King or Carly Simon and belt out our anger and pain in some healthy way in a song with scathing lyrics. Instead, young women today run for the shelter of pastel pills and their standby bottles of Xanax and Zoloft and frantic calls to their therapists and lock themselves in their Back Bay apartments with their cats because we’re all so fucking fragile. It’s pathetic. Carole King and Carly Simon and so many others went through the same heartache but they didn’t run away; they belted it out in songs like â€Å"You’re so Vain† or â€Å"Total Eclipse of the Heart† (sang by Bonnie Tyler by written by Meatloaf), and Abba and Fleetwood Mac who made a life-style of heartache and fucking – because that is life. These women seem a lot braver to me.

‘Fire and Ice’ by Robert Frost and ‘The Day They Came For Our House’ by Don Mattera Essay

â€Å"The possession of power over others is inherently destructive both to the possessor of the power and to those over whom it is exercised.† George D. HerronThe modern industrialist society, in which we live, has been shaped by people in the possession of power, and the power of passion. The 20th and 21st century’s have illustrated clearly the deadly potential of power, and not just to the possessor of the power but also to those over whom it is exercised. The poem’s ‘Fire and Ice’ and ‘The Day They Came For Our House’ by Robert Frost and Don Mattera respectively, perfectly convey the idea of the destructive nature of power, the poems are both concerned with Mortality of Age. The ideal readers of these poems are people old enough to understand how harsh and cruel this world can be. Furthermore, people who can appreciate the sense of grief portrayed in these poems, as both poets investigate deeply the potentially devastating capability of humans to destroy themselves and others. ‘Fire and Ice’, written by Robert Frost, is a carefully constructed poem, which carries a straightforward message that emotions become destructive when they are too extreme, destructive enough, even, to end the world. ‘Fire and Ice’ holds the theme of Mortality and Age, also the destructive power of passion, Robert Frost also describes humans as complacent, throughout the poem. Rather then telling a story or receiving an insight, Robert Frost simply expresses an opinion. While in the poem ‘The Day They Came For Our House’ Don Mattera is telling a story of a place called Sophiatown. This poem is a vivid retelling of the experience that Don Mattera went through, and thus is very personal. The main message delivered by this poem is that power can be very destructive, especially if it is used against people with little or no power themselves. Don Mattera illustrates the struggle of the Africans that lived in Sophiatown, when it was being demolished by white people to make a white settlement. The themes of this poem are Mortality and Age and some protest, which come under the main theme of alienation. Also just like Robert Frost he describe humans as being complacent. In the poem ‘Fire and Ice’, Robert Frost creates a speaker whose conjectures about the world’s ultimate destruction are designed to reveal the deadly potential of human passion. To address his theme, Frost cleverly manipulates  the imagery of the title, ‘Fire and Ice’. Frost requires the reader to think first about the destructive powers of fire and ice, and then relate this to desire and hate. In order to understand the poem’s warning about the equally ruinous potential of unbridled emotion. In the lines: ‘Some say the world will end in fire/Some say in ice’ (stanza 1, lines 1-2), Robert Frost shows two different ways that could lead to the World’s ultimate destruction. These lines relate to the theme of Mortality and Age, because there is an inevitability of death. He then follows on with, ‘From what I’ve tasted of desire/ I hold with those who favour fire’ (stanza 1, lines 3-4), Robert Frost describes the power of fire and its metaphoric companion, desire. In these lines, Frost, has his own opinion of how the world will end, this shows how personal this poem actually is. Robert Frost, thinks that the world will be destroyed from desire and greed. He goes as far as saying that greed itself most probably will end the world. From this we can take that he is writing this as the oppositional discourse, because surely the dominant discourse would deny greed as taking over the world. Without a doubt desire and greed are portrayed intensely in the poem ‘Fire and Ice’ but also in ‘The Day They Came For Our House’. Don Mattera who wrote the poem ‘The Day They Came For Our House’, had the intention to show how dangerous uncontrolled power can be, it can destroy peoples lives and cause serious pain. Don Mattera, just like Robert Frost is writing this poem as the oppositional discourse. This poem is deeply intertwined with that of a protest theme. Don Mattera protests about the arriving whites coming to demolish Sophiatown. He describes their arrival as, ‘Armed with bulldozers/they came/to do a job/nothing more/just hired killers/’ (stanza 2, lines 1-5). This quote represents how insignificant the Africans are perceived to be, by the white people coming to demolish their town. Don Mattera explains no emotion in this stanza. He has done this to show that the white people also had no emotion in what they were doing. In his eyes they didn’t care, it was just another job for them. The lines, ‘We gave way/there was nothing we could do/although the bitterness stung in us’ (stanza 3, lines 1-3). Clearly illustrates the African’s lack of power. They can’t do anything; this highlights the destructive nature of power, and relates to the theme of mortality and age. This is portrayed throughout this  poem, Don Mattera, explains how it is pointless for them to do anything because they have no power. The whites who demolished Sophiatown gave into ego and greed, and used their power against the black Africans. This is a perfect example of power being destructive to those over whom it is exercised. Don Mattera’s cultural background has influenced this poem drastically, because he grew up in Sophiatown, which at the time was a vibrant centre of South African culture. His poem is very personal; this makes it easier for the ideal reader to relate to. Fully understanding this poem requires the readers to understand the hardship and pain that the Africans went through. The lines, ‘We stood/Dust clouded our vision/We held back tears’ (Stanza 4, lines 1-3) exemplify’s some of the pain and suffering that the Africans of Sophiatown went through. The reader of this poem would feel sadness toward the Africans of Sophiatown, and most probably anger towards the white people who demolished their town. But unless they have been through something similar, will not be able to imagine the true extent of the emotions that Don Mattera and the other Africans would have experienced. Similar to ‘The Day They Came For Our House’, Robert Frost’s poem ‘Fire and Ice’ can only be fully understood when the reader can appreciate the grief portrayed in this poem. Although not as personal as Don Mattera’s poem, it is still a depressing poem to read. Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California. Because he is American his poem varies in the way he has chose to write it, compared to Don Mattera’s poem. In ‘Fire and Ice’, Robert Frost describes a personal apocalypse. He writes about the power of emotions such as desire and hate to destroy the world. Robert Frost would have witnessed greed and hate and heard of wars and all the hate that fills the world while he lived in America. Thus he has made an opinion of his own explaining how he believes the world will end if these emotions are not kept under control. But unlike Don Mattera and the Africans of Sophiatown he would not have had hatred against him from an apartheid government that evicted 60,000 people from Sophiatown and he would not have been undervalued. Therefore he would not have felt what he was writing about, unlike Don Mattera. This also makes it easier to relate to Robert Frost’s poem, ‘Fire and Ice’ compared to ‘ The  Day They Came For Our House’. ‘Fire and Ice’, is also a text that has a very sophisticated style. The poem is written primarily in rhymed iambic tetrameter, although three of the nine lines are in iambic dimeter. The use of such rhythmic patterns makes this poem more musical and memorable. Robert Frost also uses alliteration in his poem, such as ‘favour fire’ (stanza 1, line 4), which shows that Robert Frost is privileging the oppositional discourse because he believes the world will end from desire. Furthermore, ‘Some say’ (stanza 1, lines 1&2), is another example of alliteration. Compared to ‘Fire and Ice’, ‘The Day They Came For Our House’ is a poem that is less sophisticated, it is more of a free verse poem. In a way this emphasises the poet’s case, because it shows the poem has being unbalanced and less structured, which is what Don Mattera would have felt when he was being evicted from Sopiatown. Don Mattera also uses personification in his poem. It is illustrated in the lines, ‘The sun stood still/ in the sullen wintry sky’ Don Mattera has used this to show how Sophiatown was intertwined with the environment. He loved the surroundings of Sophiatown just as much as the people who inhabited it. This makes it a much depressing poem for the readers as it shows his love for Sophiatown, a place that was demolished to make way for a white suburb called Triomf which means triumph in English. In the poem, ‘The Day They Came For Our House’, the last lines sum up the poem’s themes, but also sum up Robert Frost’s poem ‘Fire and Ice’. The lines, ‘The power of destroying/the pain of being destroyed’ is essential to both poems because it demonstrates the underlying discourse that underpins the text. That is, in our modern industrialist society we are all shaped by power whether it is by people in possession of power or the power of passion. I chose the poems ‘Fire and Ice’ and ‘The Day They Came For Our House’, because they reflected the themes of 20th and 21st century very well, themes which are Mortality and Age and protest. Also both were wonderfully constructed poems and both poems appeared simple to read through at first glance. However, upon further reflection, they both presented different facets, which made them more complex and elusive. When I examined both  poems, I could relate more to ‘Fire and Ice’ compared to ‘The Day They Came For Our House’. I do not think I was an ideal reader of the latter poem, mostly because the poet was of a completely different cultural background. I could relate to it in some ways, although I felt almost guilty when reading the poem. I felt like I could not understand the full extent of pain and sadness that the Africans of Sophiatown went through. As mentioned above ‘Fire and Ice’ is a poem that I could relate to much easier, because I understood Robert Frost’s opinion of how desire, greed and hate would be the downfall of mankind. Furthermore it was not as personal compared to Don Mattera’s poem. ‘Fire and Ice’ and ‘The Day They Came For Our House’ by Robert Frost and Don Mattera respectively, through their poems, show the notion of Mortality and Age, protest and essentially Alienation. Although both the poems express the same themes, the authors have chosen different ways to illustrate their feeling towards the subject. Robert Frost uses ‘Fire and Ice’ to simply express and opinion rather than tell a story, which is how Don Mattera illustrates his ideas. His poem is a vivid retelling of the experience that he went through. Both poets position the reader to identify with their ideas. They illustrate the fact that â€Å"The possession of power over others is inherently destructive both to the possessor of the power and to those over whom it is exercised† (George D. Herron). Bibliography Information Obtained From:’Robert Frost’, 2000, The literature Network, www.onlineliterature.com/frost/, viewed 21st May 2008. ‘Don Mattera’, 2001, Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DonMattera, viewed 21st May 2008. ‘The day they came for our house’, 1999, Don Mattera, http://www.saep.org/Sinethemba/Poetry/studied/Mattera/Mattera.htm, viewed 21st May 2008.

Personal Statement Of The Organization - 1725 Words

Description of the Organization I studied a traditional, conservative Seventh-day Adventist church that has approximately 200 members. It is a Filipino-American church that’s mission and vision is â€Å"to emphasize that every member develop a daily personal devotional live†¦to provide, through corporate worship, an uplifting, inspiring experience†¦to mentor and provide training for leadership†¦to enable all members to engage in active involvement†¦to establish a communication network which will recruit students with a Filipino heritage†¦and to reach out with the love of Jesus Christ to meet the needs of Filipinos and other people in the community.† This church grew from a desire by members to form a Filipino fellowship that provided a dynamic†¦show more content†¦He has an incredibly close, personal touch, yet, at the same time is naturally more quiet and withdrawing. Analysis of Leadership Dynamics Pastor X’s leadership theory is clearly a bottom-up approach; he avoids wrangling the conversation unfairly to his perspective, instead, he identifies himself as a component of the process, not the process itself. This instills in the members a trust in him that is remarkably deep. He also tends to seek out members for services that they provide (i.e. medical) in order that he can relate to them on a personal while simultaneously on a spiritual level. As I pointed out above, he empowers his members by giving them opportunities and allowing them to experiment, with the promise that he will be there to provide support if problems explode. However, this model allows problems to be resolved quickly and quietly and not spiral rapidly out of control. He averts empowering the members in the way of resources—what I am alluding to is that he is willing to acquire resources when needed, yet avoids seeking them out himself. He feels that it is best for individual leaders of departments to determine these decisions. His relationship with the church is uncommonly positive, in spite of a few differences. For example, during one nominating committee it was determined by the Filipino delegation, which is the vast majority of the church, that the number Caucasians and African-Americans who held leadership positions was rife and

Annotated Bibliography The African Albino Epidemic

Annotated Bibliography: The African Albino Epidemic For many years the targeting and murdering of people with Albinism has been occurring in sub-Saharan Africa for spiritual powers, good fortune, and monetary gain. As the world becomes more modern and civilized one would think that this would be coming to an end, instead it has increased over the years. Many solely blame witch doctors, however even with laws preventing this and witch doctors being arrested; the hunting of people with Albinism has spiked. This has led to the need for further research being done on not only witch doctors being the cause, but also more underlying causes that have not been thought about before. In finding these it will help to answer why the albino body part†¦show more content†¦This credible source could be useful in my research by showing how sub-Saharan Africa’s health centers are in dire condition. It would also be useful because it shows how spirituality and medicine go hand-in-hand, especially in developing countries. Richter, Linda M., et al. Adolescents in the City: Material and Social Living Conditions in Johannesburg–Soweto, South Africa. Urban Forum, vol. 20, no. 3, Aug. 2009, pp. 319-34. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s12132-009-9065-x. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017. In their article Adolescents in the City: Material and Social Living Conditions in Johannesburg–Soweto, South Africa, Linda M. Richter and her colleagues show that sub-Saharan Africa was not on track to decreasing the extreme poverty levels as they should. They also found that as the urban areas grow in Africa, the poverty also does. In these areas half of the children do not live with their parents due to abandonment or because they are deceased, do not have hot water, and do not have all of the normal commodities in their homes. Overall this article shows the harsh conditions that sub-Saharan African adolescents are faced with. This article is credible due to its sample size that accurately represented the diversity of the area, the depth of the research done by the researchers and due to the lack of bias in the article. I could use this in my research to

Gender Stereotypes And Gender Roles Essay - 1415 Words

Roles are often assigned to boys and girls in accordance with the sex assigned at birth. We refer to these as gender roles. Gender roles begin to be imposed as early as birth. The nursery in the hospital assigns either a blue name plate for a boy or a pink name plate for a girl. These roles are continuously reinforced by family. Children learn at an early age that boys and girls are different. Children observe gender roles and in many cases these roles are eventually accepted as an unquestionable truth. This creates gender stereotyping which is defined by The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as a generalized view or preconception about attributes or characteristics that are or ought to be possessed by, or the roles that are or should be performed by men and women. A gender stereotype can be extremely harmful and limit ones capacity to develop their personal abilities, pursue their professional careers and make choices about their lives and life plans. Shaping Gender Identity Sam Killermann, a comedian and social justice advocate stated â€Å"Gender is like a Rubik’s Cube with one hundred squares per side, and every time you twist it to take a look at another angle, you make it that much harder a puzzle to solve.† The formation of gender is a topic that has been highly controversial in many scientific fields. Gender refers to the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sexShow MoreRelatedGender Roles And Gender Stereotypes Essay1449 Words   |  6 PagesProspectus: Gender roles and gender stereotypes in advertising My position: I believe advertisements that reinforce female gender roles and stereotypes are damaging to society. 2. Non-favorable Incidents: The examination of the â€Å"Victoria’s Secret† ad for a line of undergarments labeled â€Å"The Showstopper.† The headline is â€Å"Show nothing but your shape,† and the image is a thin woman with big breasts staring seductively. The image clearly sets a tone that this is what is a stand of ideal beauty. AndRead MoreGender Stereotypes And Gender Roles954 Words   |  4 Pages Gender can be a hot topic within cultures; a male or female does not want to be told that they can or cannot do something based on their gender. Every culture views gender roles differently, and some cultures are more serious about gender than others. Many times, male and female actions are determined by what a person has been taught is right; furthermore, gender roles are a set of societal norms that are the behaviors that a sex is generally known to do and what is considered accepted of a personRead MoreGender Stereotypes And Gender Roles1241 Words   |  5 PagesWe will never be able to control how gender stereotypes are formed. Gender roles were naturally created as a result of human evolution and the different modes of living that were adopted by humans. Humans, however remain the driving force behind reinforcing gender roles and stereotypes with different mediums. Such as television, art, and writing. In order to understand how gender is portrayed in contemporary American comedy this paper will analyze the characters from the television show, It’s AlwaysRead MoreGender Stereotypes And Gender Roles1261 Words   |  6 Pagesbeen expected to act a certain way depending on their sex. These societal expectations are called gender roles. (Rathus, 2010, p.447). These roles begin to develop even before a child is even out of the womb. A mother may decorate their nursery pink if they are having a daughter because â€Å"girls like pink,† and â€Å"boys like blue.† Gender roles should not be confused with gender stereotypes. A gender stereoty pe is a narrow way of thinking about how men and woman are obligated to behave. For example, men haveRead MoreGender Roles And Gender Stereotypes1102 Words   |  5 PagesDefined Gender Roles Creating a Lack of Reality in Children’s Literature Distinction is a concept that is learned at a very young age. It is used as a tool to distinguish between race, religion, language, age and especially gender. Where certain topics regarding race and religion may be considered more taboo, the definition of gender is always open for discussion but it is not always depicted in all forms of the word. Children can feel isolated if they cannot relate to individuals they look up toRead MoreGender Stereotypes And Gender Roles1246 Words   |  5 PagesGender roles are defined as the â€Å"widely accepted societal expectations about how males and females should behave† (Rathus, 2010). From gender roles, we, the people of society, are able to determine whether someone identifies as a male or a female. Both biological and social factors tend to determine what gender roles a person takes on. However, there are also gender stereotypes, which are â€Å"the fixed and oversimplified beliefs about the ways in which men and women ought to beha ve† (Rathus, 2010).Read MoreGender Stereotypes And Gender Roles1845 Words   |  8 PagesTimes have changed; gender roles are no longer clearly defined Traditionally, gender has been defined as the state of being male or female but, recently society has begun to understand that gender is not the biological sex that you were born with but how you identify and express yourself. A persons gender can be male, female, neither, both or something completely different. People tend to see gender as black or white, or a box you can tick but gender does not have to conform to what our modern societyRead MoreGender Stereotypes And Gender Roles1389 Words   |  6 PagesGender roles are set of societal norms dictating the types of behavior which are genrally considered acceptable , appropriate for people based on their actual or perceived sex or sexuality. Gender roles are also determined by the prevailing cultural norms. The attitudes and expectations surrounding gender roles are not typically based on any inherent or natural gender differences, but on gender stereotypes, or oversimplified notions about the attitudes, traits, and behavior patte rns of males andRead MoreGender Stereotypes And Gender Roles1076 Words   |  5 PagesGender stereotypes and gender roles are a largely contested issue in the modern world. Countries around the world have very different gender norms, though there are some recurrent patterns between many cultures. For most recurrent patterns there is a culture who does not abide by those gender norms. There is typically many good reasons for each recurrent pattern that makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. There is also a significant difference in the way men and women are treated. This is causedRead MoreGender Stereotypes And Gender Roles Essay2036 Words   |  9 Pagesalong the development of gender stereotypes and gender roles that have an impact on how children come to understand their own gender identity. Environmental factors such as peers, the media, and even parents perpetuate stereotypes through their own actions. Children come to understand gender during development through experie nces that are shaped by their environment and perpetuated by their culture, which ultimately encourages gender stereotypes and conformity to gender roles. Children are born into

Delta Signal Corp - Business Strategy Free Sample

Question: Discuss about the Business Strategy for Delta Signal Corp. Answer: Introduction: This paper will look to focus on strategies implemented to better the situation of Delta Signal Corp through the process of simulation. The company is facing problem, as is case with many of the companies across the globe. Certain strategies are not working and the new CEO wants to implement a strategy that would put things on track. There are a lot of strategies that a management can implement to make things right, but a perfect strategy can overturn the crisis into a situational benefit for the organization. Delta Signal was in dire need of one as its stock pricews dropped, market situation was worsening and competitors were edging past it, grabbing important market share. Selected Strategy and Justification The strategy that has been selected in the simulation is the strategy targeting the segment of luxury, which is customer integration. The way forward for Delta Signal Corporation is through creating trust and confidence that is possible at all levels. Customers do need to be confident and have belief on the organization from which they are purchasing the product. Moreover, under similar circumstances, the employees too need to show a bit of trust and have confidence in their managers and their actions. Close integration of processes is required starting from the research and development section through to manufacturing, shipping and sales (Verbeke, 2013).The Blue Ocean strategy simulation (BOSS) can be effective in this scenario, which can allow the organization to test out new methods in accordance to respecting marketing realities. This business strategy takes into consideration participants working in teams to manage goods having fixed prices over a period of six years. The simula tion structure permits them in creating a blue ocean of new market freedom for their company and stay away or break free from competition. The blue ocean strategy stands on six principles which can be effective for Delta Signal Corp which includes, reaching beyond the existing demand, focusing on the bigger picture that lies ahead and not merely on numbers, getting the strategic sequence right, overcoming the hurdles of organizations, reconstructing boundaries of market and building executions in accordance with strategies. The luxury segment generally sees a few, but key customers who are always ready to pay the premium price for the companys superior or best service. These key customers are seen as the mode of profitability for the organization, helping the organization to stay in shape in times of fluctuating demand. Businesses that are involved in customer integration work and communicate with a customer-centric mindset. It is letting the customers know how important and valuable a part they are to the organization and the organization makes all the decisions and strategies keeping their interests in mind (Edvardsson et al., 2012). It creates goodwill for the company at the marketplace, thus maintaining a positive image. Brian Nelson, the new CEO stated that despite the company investing heavily on things like product performance and quality, the company is not a market leader in any of the segments which is a matter of concern. According to him the company lacked a clear value proposition that might attract a lot of traffic to the company. Its letting the consumers know how the companys product solve customers problem or develops or enhances their situation. Even the managers in the company did not have clear goals to work on, a demotivational factor that does not go well with the organizations work process. Further research and development is required for Delta Signal Corporation, and the company cannot compromise on the quality while it may look on other integration factors like low lifetime cost. The company has taken into consideration in improving the internal factors like investing in new machineries, providing training to the employees and reducing cost where it is necessary (Chavez et al., 2015). The companys product image is inconsistent enough for it to lose out on important market share to its competitors. The economic factors have been growing dramatically in some developing countries which have increased the cost of raw materials and suppliers are in constant pressure to cut down the price and increase profitability. Evaluation of Seleted Strategy: This strategy of customer integration has worked quite well with the organization. The quality of the products has increased which in turn has increased the satisfaction level of the customers. There is high chance that the existing customers are satisfied at that level where they can recommend Delta Signals products to other people who can be the companys prospective buyers. This recommendation can work as a word-of-mouth advertisement, where these consumers advertise the companys products without the company incurring any expenses. Effectiveness of Strategy Implementation: No matter what strategy company implies on, budget plays a huge factor in deciding which path to be taken in order to achieve the desired results. While preparing budgets it has often been found out that companies do not take much into consideration, whereas the balance scorecard simulation does measure a companys performance based on three key areas which are: -The internal process -Customers relationship with company -Growth and learning activities The internal process should need to function in a proper way; otherwise an organization should not be able to perform in a market where there is high level of competition. The stocks of the Delta Signal were downward inclining, with it losing important market share to its customers. The company has to implement things in a new way, a way which should provide them with a better chance to be the market leader and attract a lot of customers. The company is planning to hit the luxury segment of the market, where it states that the company will have opportunities much better than the other segments. It has recently expanded in the Asian market where it will face tough competition from other companies who are implementing the same strategy of targeting the economic segment car makers (Van Dongen, Dijkman Mendling, 2013).. The best strategy thus is focusing its whole attention into the luxury segment that is less competitive as the others are busy in grabbing the Asian Market share. Moreov er, the companys traditional expertise is in the Research and Development, so the company can quickly act and react to the market conditions, making the necessary changes that can firm its position in the market. Suggested Improvements: The cost leadership strategy should be put in use where optimal efficiency and spreading the cost across the company in whole. The cost leadership strategy avoids the risk of productivity slowdown and the operational cost to grow substantially. Cost leadership helps in weathering unexpected sales and maintaining a good level of cash flow where the extra money can be used for development of product, advertising purposes and selecting the best employees in the sector to have the best results. Expansion does not come easy; it has its own complexities. The growth of a company should be controlled one, because uncontrolled growth often lands the management in problem (Mahr, Lievens Blazevic, 2014). Cost projections can go out of the window, if the growth is not controlled (Gabrielsson, Gabrielsson Seppl, 2012). Workers should be kept motivated, because if the company loses out on workers who have the required skill to perform, then productivity drops and company incurs more cost to select and train the new workers. If productivity is less then there is high chance of company losing out on it valuable customers. Moreover, it is trying to focus on the luxury segment, which has relatively less buyers than the economy segment, so every consumer becomes important. Losing out on even one can be a huge loss for the company. Moreover, their goodwill may be hampered. So the company cannot take risk in this kind of situations. The value chain can also be modified as per the business needs. Internet can play a big factor too, like the company can shift to e-business technology which is much for faster and reliable than the traditional processes (Fearne, Garcia Martinez Dent, 2012).. Moreover, direct marketing can be implemented which reduces the cost of channels. Moreover, the designs which are produced in a simplified manner can reduce the cost by shortening the value chain. Value Innovation is effective as it puts same kind of emphasis on innovation as well as value. It helps in execution of strategies and resulting in creation of blue ocean strategy which reduces the driving costs effectively whie increasing the driving value of buyers by raising and creating new elements. The implementation of the Blue Ocean Strategy will be beneficial for the company. Recommendations for Post-Simulation Strategy: The strategies that would be recommended for the Delta Signal Corporation going forward are based on four segments which are financial, customer, internal process and learning and growth. Recommended Strategy: Financial: the main focus will be on financial activities with the strategy being maintaining a high quality of the products so as to attract more customers and have the lions share in the market. However, reducing the cost of the company is also a factor which needs to be focused on. The company needs to manage a good relationship with the customers and should invest in things where necessary to gain control of the market and gain customers attraction (Gerth, 2013).. The company should take the necessary steps in maintain a good internal and external environment. However, the main focus of the company should be to reduce cost in order to gain the competitive advantage in the market. The organization needs to give the shareholders and the stakeholders their due importance in order to survive in the market (Grnroos, Voima, 2013). Customers: Delta Signal Corporations strategy has been based on customer integration which means their primary focus should be on the consumer. The company should focus on doing promotional activities and put a spotlight on protection activities of the customers. The prices of the products should be competitive in nature, so that the customers keep attracted to its products (Moeller et al.2013) . As the company has been spending heavily in maintaining the quality of the product, it should not be compromised at any cost. A proper trust and belief should exist among the customers and the company should not do anything that might break the trust of consumers. The simple reason the word-of-mouth advertisement or the recommendation of customers that they do to other people about the companys product works like magic. Customer satisfaction should be an on-going process. Internal process: the company has invested heavily in implementing the most updated technologies for maintaining the best quality products. The company should maintain a low administrative cost and can look for outsourcing if maintaining an in-house admin becomes expensive for it. Investment in driving costs should be kept down too at least for the next two to three years. Productivity should be the primary objective of the company, because in case of low productivity the company profit will also be low, and might end up in losing valuable customers to its competitors (He et al., 2014). The defect rate of the products should be kept at bare minimum, which keeps a continuous flow of goods to the markets for the customers to have it as and when required. A good productivity has its own advantages with enhancement in quality of products. Customers will have nothing to complain about and sales return will drop dramatically and with it will decline the repair and service calls (Sharma, Ga rg Mittal, 2016). Such scenario will give rise to a situation where accounts receivable will diminish as customers are satisfied and are likely to pay off their due bills, costs are going to decrease too and the management is going to have enough capital for the maintenance of equipment in a proper way. The focus should be on the strategy in hand, where every member of the organization should be made clear about the goals which was lacking in Delta Signal Corporation as stated in the case study (Hollensen, 2015). Until and unless the organizational goals are clearly mentioned people do not find the motivation to work. Learning and Growth: the company should not be stagnant in case of keeping people who are not performing. Company should invest in recruiting new people and provide them with adequate training, so that they become competent enough and perform according to the desires of the company in achieving the desired results (Bentley, Omer Sharp, 2013). Moreover, the existing employees should be also provided training in order to upgrade their present knowledge and skill. Last time, the company had to put off these training sessions due to cut down in budget which affected heavily the organizations people, which cannot be repeated again. Investments should be done in research and development of the products and market so as to stay ahead of the competition (Pitani, 2012). Justification: As stated earlier too, the focus of Delta Corp should be on the bigger things lying ahead and not on the numbers. Awakening: Comparison should be done with competitors based on the As Is strategy and focus should be on where the strategy needs to change. Exploration: Observing the advantages of working with alternative products and services is important. Delta wants to hit the luxury segment, it is important for the company to take into consideration the products it is going to make available for that segment. It is about considering the factors that need to be changed and eliminated. Strategy Fair: Getting feedback on alternative strategies is important from various customers, competitors and other non customers. The feedback should be used to build the to be best strategy. Communication: only those projects and operational moves are to be supported which allows Delta Signal Corp to close in the gaps in actualizing the new strategy. These are few of the recommendations that should hold good for the company. Reference: Bentley, K. A., Omer, T. C., Sharp, N. Y. (2013). Business strategy, financial reporting irregularities, and audit effort.Contemporary Accounting Research,30(2), 780-817. Chavez, R., Yu, W., Gimenez, C., Fynes, B., Wiengarten, F. (2015). Customer integration and operational performance: The mediating role of information quality.Decision Support Systems,80, 83-95. Edvardsson, B., Kristensson, P., Magnusson, P., Sundstrm, E. (2012). Customer integration within service developmentA review of methods and an analysis of insitu and exsitu contributions.Technovation,32(7), 419-429. Fearne, A., Garcia Martinez, M., Dent, B. (2012). Dimensions of sustainable value chains: implications for value chain analysis.Supply Chain Management: An International Journal,17(6), 575-581. Gabrielsson, P., Gabrielsson, M., Seppl, T. (2012). Marketing strategies for foreign expansion of companies originating in small and open economies: the consequences of strategic fit and performance.Journal of International Marketing,20(2), 25-48. Gerth, C. (2013). Introduction. InBusiness Process Models. Change Management(pp. 1-12). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Grnroos, C., Voima, P. (2013). Critical service logic: making sense of value creation and co-creation.Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,41(2), 133-150. He, Y., Lai, K. K., Sun, H., Chen, Y. (2014). The impact of supplier integration on customer integration and new product performance: the mediating role of manufacturing flexibility under trust theory.International Journal of Production Economics,147, 260-270. Hollensen, S. (2015).Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education. Mahr, D., Lievens, A., Blazevic, V. (2014). The value of customer cocreated knowledge during the innovation process.Journal of Product Innovation Management,31(3), 599-615. Moeller, S., Ciuchita, R., Mahr, D., Odekerken-Schrder, G., Fassnacht, M. (2013). Uncovering collaborative value creation patterns and establishing corresponding customer roles.Journal of Service Research,16(4), 471-487. Pitani, M. (2012). Training Virtual Employees. Savino, M. M., Manzini, R., Mazza, A. (2015). Environmental and economic assessment of fresh fruit supply chain through value chain analysis. A case study in chestnuts industry.Production Planning Control,26(1), 1-18. Sharma, S., Garg, S., Mittal, S. K. (2016). Importance, Role and Impact of E-Training on Employees in Workplace.SGBED wishes to recognize the following sponsors, 474. Van Dongen, B., Dijkman, R., Mendling, J. (2013). Measuring similarity between business process models. InSeminal Contributions to Information Systems Engineering(pp. 405-419). Springer Berlin Heidelberg Verbeke, A. (2013).International business strategy. Cambridge University Press.