Video assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Video assignment - Essay Example From the film, the United States is brought out as one of the most individualistic society in the world. They tend to put more emphasis on individual achievement, equal rights, informal communication as well as little dependence on authority. The US employees are seen consulting with each other frequently and sharing information openly. They are also extremely comfortable interacting with people they don’t even know, and they aren’t shy doing so. On the other hand, the Japanese managers are more of collectivists. They seem to value harmony and loyalty to both the group and company. The movie successfully brought to light the clash between individualist and collectivist cultures in the most beautiful way. For instance, the Japanese workers performed their duties without complaint and a lower salary and higher production rate consistently. On the other hand, the American auto workers depicted less loyalty to the company compared to the Japanese employees. This is evident when Stevenson (role played by Keaton) tried to convince his American workforce to meet the 15000 production quota. Rather than make concessions to accomplish the company goals like their Japanese counterparts had, the US plant employees immediately started talking themselves out of achieving the goal and further looking for ways to lower the quota. In the beginning, Stevenson thinks that he can get them to push the quota nevertheless. However, he discovered that in the absence of the same level of loyalty, the American workers weren’t as motivated and driven to make the set goal a realit y. Quick advancement and reward appear to be the norm in America and is usually based on merit. On the other hand, Japanese culture values dedication and long service are always rewarded. The expectation of rapid reward by the Americans is depicted in the movie when the plant employees ask if they will receive a reward even if they don’t meet the production quota. This means that they

Developing Profit with Online Sales Promotions

Developing Profit with Online Sales Promotions Promotional Mix is consists of 4ps (Sales promotion, advertising, personal selling, and publicity/public relations) and has a very significant role to play in Business success .Basically, Sales promotion is concerned with ensuring that customer are aware of the different products manufactured by companies and makes available to their customers (Rowley J. 1998).Promotion alters consumer behaviour beyond the normal price/quantity trade-off, change in buying time of the product, as well as how much the customer buys (Blattberg et al., 1995). Marketing Communication is one of the very important Marketing activities and is generally preferred to the term PROMOTION. All of the Marketing communication activities are the form of promotion that is in one way or another try to promote product range brand and/or company (Rowley J. 1998). The Internet is a best tool to provide an efficient way for, Marketing communication. It has been observed that the adoption of the Internet is faster than any other media. Other Medias like Radio (took 38 years) and TV (took 13 years) to reach 50 million users, whereas Internet took only five years to achieve this level (Ellsworth and Ellsworth, 1997). Companies are also conducting promotional programs using social networking websites such as Facebook, Orkut, Hi5, and Twitter. Many researchers realized that Internet would improve the Marketing communication process and it will increase future sales. Internet websites act like an information provider, and organizations encourage customers to visit their websites. Tools such as print advertising, text messaging and broadcast are being used to bring about such visits (Harridge and March, 2004). The development of different tools of promotion, such as sales promotion, advertising and direct marketing have been improved by the development of the technology, which has offered the potential to communicate with customers ( Harridge and March, 2004).This has been done in order to maximize the effectiveness of the tools, but to achieve this a unified integration is needed ( Cornelisessen and Lock, 2001).The synergy generated by such a integration far outweighs the use of individual tools in isolation, although it has been suggested that the Internet has increased effectiveness and efficiency in communicating with customers ( Harridge and March, 2004). Promotions should not be considered as a simply price promotions, rather it should be considered in a broader content and will include advertising budgets, display allowance to the trade, as well as feature and display advertising activity direct to the customer (Blattberg et al., 1995). In order to meet the promotional objectives of any given promotion strategy an appropriate promotional mix must be created. The promotional mix is the mixture of two or more different promotional channels that is used to communicate a promotional message with customers (Rowley J, 1998). 1.2 Problem Discussion In year 2001, over a one third adults of the UK who accessed the Internet also purchased goods or services through it. This means remaining two-third do not shop online. Some companies have been criticized for apparently thinking that all the Internet shoppers are the same, instead of realizing that there are many reasons why a customer may visit a web site (ibid). On the other hand, due to very high competition in Market there is a massive pressure on marketers to increase their spending on the promotional mix. While at the same time top management has examined carefully that promotional expenditures are among one of the most promising areas left for cutting costs and increasing profits. This study puts extreme pressure on Marketers to develop and implement promotional programs within the constraints of tighter budgets and can contribute to their organizations. Hence, it is important to reexamine how promotional money is spent (Srinivasan and Anderson, 2008). In todays Businesses sales promotions are very important Marketing tools but they command a greater portion of the Marketing budget than advertisements. For example, in the USA investments amount on sales promotion is nearly 30 percent of what company spend on advertising alone (d Astous and Jacob, 2005) and in many European countries, expenditures on sales promotion are larger than advertising expenditures (ibid). However, advertisements are very popular and a big business on the Internet, sales promotions on the Internet are still limited. The reason behind this is that Internet is not so common in underdeveloped and developing nations and reaching customers using this technology is difficult because not everyone is accessing Internet (Kumar et al., 2005). Since there are many other problems on which research is needed and I will try to cover them in Dissertation. 1.3 Research purpose and research questions. The Purpose of my Dissertation is to provide understanding on the use of online sales promotions in todays competitive market. How it can be improved and make it more profitable? In order to achieve this purpose I have constructed the following research questions. Que1-How can the types of sales promotions for consumer goods be described? Que2-How can online environment (i.e. Internet) providing types of sales promotion be described? Methodology Purpose of Research According to Yin (2004) the purpose of Research study can be described in three categories: exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory. According to Zikmund (2000) good researchers strive for descriptive precision. Descriptive Research includes: Surveys (questionnaires, Delphi method, normative, interviews) Case studies Job Analysis Co relational studies Documentary Analysis *Development studies and, I will try to conduct questionnaires and include case studies to my dissertation. Descriptive Research is useful to find out the answer of who, what, when, where, and how, and to find the need, difference, Characteristics, and features of subgroups (ibid). Explanatory Research is conducted when we are supposed to identify the causal relationships, among variables (Zikmund, 2000). It helps in determining the best research design, selection of subjects and data collection methods. It relies on secondary Research such as literature reviewing, qualitative approaches such as informal discussion with consumers, management or employees and formal approaches through focus groups, case studies, etc. The Research purpose and questions show that this Dissertation is going to be mainly descriptive and somewhere I will use explanatory Research also to explore and find out the answers to Research questions and to draw conclusions. Research Approach In this study qualitative approach will be used. Qualitative research is used to determine the answer to Why not the How through case studies, emails, interviews, customers feedback forms, photos and videos. It is used to understand peoples attitudes, concerns, behaviours, culture or lifestyles, motivations and helps in taking Business decisions (Yin, 2004). According to Amaratunga et al., (2002) it is difficult to make accountable speech on Qualitative Research in Business economics. The purpose of my Dissertation is to enhance understanding on the use of online environment for sales promotions. On the basis of above discussion Qualitative approach is suitable and hence I will use Qualitative approach. Data collection method According to Yin (2004), for data collection, participant observations are one of the most important sources of case study. These observations provide strength of being real, contextual, and also provide understanding of interpersonal behaviour and motives. It is a mode of observation where researcher is not a passive observer. Instead, researcher may have to play many roles within a case according to situation and may participate in the events being studied (ibid). Therefore, for this Dissertation data would be collected by participant observation. Sample Selection According to Gragiano and Raulin (1997), it is not possible to collect and gain data from all the available sources to solve the research problems and to find the solutions. Techniques provided by sampling reduce the amount of data that is needed to collect from a sub-group (Saunders Thorn hill, 2000). Sample for case studies can be chosen in many ways (Yin, 2004). For my dissertation I will use judgmental or purposive sampling. According to Saunders (2000) purposive sampling enables researcher to use judgment to select cases that will best enable researcher to answer research questions and to meet objectives. It can be use when we have to work with very small samples such as in case study research. http://www.qsrinternational.com/what-is-qualitative-research.aspx

Canadas Economy In 1996 :: essays research papers

Canada's Economy in 1996 To investigate the state of the Canadian economy, it is very useful to track Canada's six major economic goals: economic growth, economic stability, economic efficiency, economic equity, viable balance of payments, and low unemployment. At a given time, Canada is achieving some of these goals while falling behind on some of the others. When taken all into consideration, these goals give an indication of how well Canada has been doing and the stage of the business cycle the Canadian economy is in. In 1996-1997, Canada is in slight recession and is only meeting the goals of economic stability, and viable balance of payments. Canada can be said to be in a period of slight recession because there is a downswing in economic activity. To confirm a true recovery, "an economy must show no growth for two consecutive quarters." However, Canada is not in a true recession because there was a 3.0% growth in the third quarter, compared to 2.2% in the second quarter. Eventhough it is not true recession, the slow growth is a sure sign of a slight one. Low inflation is also is also prevalent and is symptomatic of a weak economy. A low inflation rate of 1.4% in November 1996 does not provide much of an indication for economic growth and expansion. A shrinking positive balance of payments indicates these are tough economic times. A fourth indication of a slight recession is the high unemployment rate. An unemployment rate of 10.0% in November 1996 is definitely not a sign of strong economic recovery. Canada is always trying to work towards the goal of economic growth. Economic growth is the percentage change of GDP over a period of time and is also known as the growth rate. In 1996, Canada's GDP has been increasing slowly since the first quarter. The GDP in the first quarter was 1.8%, then increased to 2.2% in the second quarter, and in the third quarter it rose to 3.0%. In this way, Canada has been experiencing steady growth. This goal is being met because of the increase in consumer spending inspite of the government cutbacks. Consumer spending levels tell producers what to produce, and how much to produce. If consumer spending increases, it gives a signal to the producers to produce more which causes the increasing GDP. The government cutbacks contribute does contribute to lower consumer confidence and, thus, slows the economic growth. Slow, growth causes few jobs to be created as it means a slower rate of expansion of industries. When there is slow growth, few jobs are being created,

TIGHTENING THE LINK BETWEEN WELLBING AT WORK AND PERFORMANCE

Abstraction:The intent of this academic essay is to reexamine the research work under the rubric ‘Tightening the nexus between employee wellbeing at work and public presentation ‘ by the erudite scholar Nicole Renee Baptiste with the purpose to take the academic treatment further. The research work is good presented and rich in footings of cognition, grounds and recommendations. The subject of research is a modern-day issue of great significance, peculiarly in this clip of economic downswing. Sum-total of organisational success reflects on the economic growing at the national degree and that is why effectual and efficient organisational operation, be it in the public sector or private subdivision, has ever been on the top of the docket of the policy shapers and organisational leaders. In add-on, organisational success depends to a big portion on the well-being of the employees. In other words, a happy work force leads to better concern public presentation – is the subject under reappraisal. Introduction:‘Life anticipation and Numberss in employment are higher than of all time before, yet around 175 million on the job yearss were lost to illness in 2006 ( Dame Carol Black ‘s Review of the wellness of Britain ‘s working population ‘Working for a healthier tomorrow ‘ presented to the Secretary of State for Health and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, 17 March 2008. The policy shapers are in the procedure of reexamining work topographic point patterns in relation to well-being and promoting thoughts to better concern public presentation to be competitory in the planetary market that signifies the importance to wellbeing every bit justly depicted by the writer. In order to foster the academic treatment, the undermentioned points will be analyzed:The rubric of the research work: Tightening the nexus between employee wellbeing at work and public presentation.The impression of HRM as suggested on Page 2 of the research work.PerformanceRecent HR Concepts, e.g. , employee battleThe job of such probe: how to divide well-being as a variable as a contributory factor to public presentation‘HRM patterns ‘ on page 3 of the research paper.The HRM Practices – Employee voice – †¦ †¦ †¦ ‘and it is considered indispensable that workers have the chance to show their grudges openly and independently†¦ . ‘ Page 3 of the article may be problematic.Committedness, Job Satisfaction and Work-life balance are the constitutional elements ofWellbeing. But the issue is: committedness, occupation satisfaction and work-life balance are the result of a good well-being policy instead than being the component elemen ts of wellbeing which may be unfastened to debate.In the Data Collection procedure male, female, age, length of service, type of business, making – all the elements were taken in into consideration but point has no reference, which is Ethnicity, which is unfastened to debate. Different ethical background may hold different perceptual experience of well-being.From a reading of the article under reappraisal, it seems the article is normative taking to prescriptive recommended policies which reflect a kind of theoretical account, the look used to analyse HR by Mike Noon, Re-assessing Human Resource Management, edited by Paul Blyton and Peter Turnbull, Sage Publications, 1996, page 16. Literature Reappraisal:Employee wellbeing as a construct to better organisational public presentation from the position of HR practician can be traced to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 as authorities legislative intercession placed a responsibility of attention upon employers. ‘Employers have a legal responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 ( HSWA 1974 ) to guarantee, so far as is moderately operable, the wellness, safety and public assistance at work of their employees. ( HSWA 1974, s 2 ( 1 ) . The term used by the authorities has been welfare instead than wellbeing, which may bear the same significance except well-being, seems to be much broader in range. The writer takes the position that HRM is a unitary system of direction – which is a remarkable indorsement of managerial positions, is besides unfastened to debate. Today ‘s HR is really much based on common consent in about every facet of employer-employee relationship which may be in a redundancy state of affairs, enlisting and choice, subject, trade brotherhood dialogue et cetera. What makes the survey of HR hard is ‘the multiplicity of variable ‘ Charles Handy, Understanding Organizations, 4th edition, 1999, Penguin Books Reappraisal:Summary of the inquiries:The rubric of the research work: Tightening the nexus between employee wellbeing at work and public presentation.The impression of HRM as suggested on Page 2 of the research work.PerformanceRecent HR Concepts, e.g. , employee battleThe job of such probe: how to divide well-being as a variable as a contributory factor to public presentation‘HRM patterns ‘ on page 3 of the research paper.The HRM Practices – Employee voice – †¦ †¦ †¦ ‘and it is considered indispensable that workers have the chance to show their grudges openly and independently†¦ . ‘ Page 3 of the article may be problematic.Committedness, Job Satisfaction and Work-life balance are the constitutional elements ofWellbeing. But the issue is: committedness, occupation satisfaction and work-life balance are the result of a good well-being policy instead than being the component elements of wellbeing which may be unfastened to debate .In the Data Collection procedure male, female, age, length of service, type of business, making – all the elements were taken in into consideration but point has no reference, which is Ethnicity, which is unfastened to debate. Different ethical background may hold different perceptual experience of well-being.AppraisalThe first issue which comes to mind as a referee is the rubric of the research paper ‘Tightening the nexus between employee wellbeing at work and public presentation. ‘ Harmonizing to the rubric, the writer does non stipulate which type of organisation is the article for, whether it is for the private sector or public sector or charity organisation, SMEs et cetera. If it assumed that the research paper is intended for all types of organisations, so the job is: the empirical analysis in local authorities in North England or an sentiment study of a peculiar group of employees working for the authorities may non be able to stand for the positions of all types of employees. Percept on wellbeing differ from organisation to organisation. Aims and aims and public presentation are non the same or similar. In 1961, Burns and Stalker ( Mullins, L.J. ( 2005 ) . Management and Organization completed a survey of 20 UK fabrication houses to find the types of construction that existed. Finding concluded that two fundamentally contrasting signifiers existed – mechanistic and organic. Mechanistic Structures:Have a stiff constructionOperate in stable environmentsHave undertakings that are specialized and functionally differentiatedHave a hierarchal construction in which control and authorization predominate. #Organic Structures:Have fluid constructions that are more antiphonal to alterOperate in more turbulent/constantly altering environmentsHave undertakings that change on a regular basis with the concernHave an environment where cognition is spread throughout the organisation What has construction of an organisation got to make with wellbeing? To some extent, construction plays a really of import function in the makeup of the organisational personality which is the sum-total of the employees, direction manner, civilization of the organisation, type of employees recruited and selected, outlooks, industrial dealingss and the external environment T in which the organisation operates. All these factors may take to a perceptual difference in which well-being is viewed. Public or authorities sections are to some extent or similar to Mechanistic constructions where employees seem content with occupation stableness ( even the authorities sections are holding to confront up to recession ) – which means the wellbeing bundle from the perceptual experience of the contented employees may be different. This is an premise and at this minute of clip, no empirical grounds can be provided. On the other manus, private organisations and SMEs, charity organisations have another mentality in relation to well-being because, external force per unit area of competition, the competitory nature in order to last and prolong, public presentation related in footings of finance and net income – all seem to propose, that wellbeing is approached from a more fiscal position like immense wages taken by the organisation leaders which has come under onslaught by the populace and media late. At this minute, no empirical grounds can be provided to back up the above mentioned premises. On page 3 of the research work, the writer has to some extent equated Employee Voice with Grievance by the statement ‘ †¦ †¦ †¦ have the chance to show their grudges openly and independently, †¦ †¦ †¦ ..'Grievance is non the same as raising an issue. Employee voice is about engagement, battle, audiences and discoursing issues related to work without fright. To utilize the phrase ‘Grievance ‘ seems inappropriate. The impression of HRMHarmonizing to the writer ‘HRM will be defined as a set of patterns used to pull off the work force of an organisation, that is recruitment and choice, preparation and development, worker engagement, wage and wagess, flexibleness, engagement in decision-making, communications and employee public assistance. ‘ If the position of the writer is taken that HRM is a set of patterns, which means it is a map or managerial tool to work out managerial jobs, so the inquiry no theory is required to back up premises or no empirical grounds is required to back up premises. There is still a batch of argument about the true nature of HRM from the academic position, practicians view point and besides, from the position point of educationists who teach this subject. Harmonizing to Torrington et at. , ( 2005 ) , define HRM as, ‘Resource centered, directed chiefly at direction ‘s demands for HR ( non needfully employees ) to be provided and deployed. Demand instead than supply is the focal point on the activity. There is greater accent on planning, monitoring and control instead than mediation. Problem-solving is undertaken with other members of the direction on HR issues instead than straight with employees or their representatives. ‘ This definition is besides similar to the writer which focuses on Practice. Harmonizing to bookmans like Guest, it is more than merely a set of pattern – the subject has good tested theoretical accounts and theories which provide the decisions with more authorization which is why empirical grounds is provided to back up findings. Performance is another issue which requires elucidation. The writer does non truly stipulate when covering with public presentation as to which public presentation is being referred to:Organizational public presentationHR public presentationEmployee public presentationWellbeing is related to public presentation but which public presentation. If well-being is related to organisational public presentation, so wellbeing demands to be separated from the remainder of the other variables which is hard to make. Compartmentalizing Wellbeing, if possible, may take to different decisions. Wellbeing will so be examined against the organisational public presentation indexs and see how wellbeing contributes to the overall public presentation of the organisation. In these times when the traveling gets tough, employees try to set on their best show, merely to be in occupations. Performance additions as times get tough ( People Management, published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, July issues, 2009 ) . Wellbeing non needfully leads to better public presentation. But without a shadow of uncertainty, plays a important function taking to effectual public presentation. In a stable status, occupation security, committedness and work-family enterprises have been through empirical observation evidenced by the writer that wellbeing improves public presentation. It is agreed. But does the same clasp for in an unstable status where occupations are vanishing, people being made redundant, re-structuring return topographic point merely to salvage money, preparation is traveling through the Windowss due to shortage of financess, enlisting freezing in some industries – it is a affair of uncertainty.Committedness, Job Satisfaction and Work-life balance are the constitutional elements of Wellbeing. But the issue is: committedness, occupation satisfaction and work-life balance are the result of a good well-being policy instead than being the component elements of wellbeing which may be unfastened to debate. This is another point seems to be unfastened to debate. A good well-being policy will take to greater committedness, occupation satisfaction and work-life balance. By following a Cause and Effect analysis, it can be safely assumed that committedness, occupation satisfaction and work-life balance is the terminal consequence or the consequence of a good well-being policy instead than being the component elements of well-being policy. From an HR practician ‘s point of position, well-being is made up of:Effective communicating ( ACAS ) ( 2005 )Honesty ( from both the employers and employees )An inspiring civilizationBetter footings and conditions of employmentBetter and competitory benefits in footings of fiscal and non-financialCompetitive wages schemeSchemes like proviso for looking after the aged, immature kids or taking time-off for looking after the aged, immature kids or people with disablements which may necessitate to be farther examined and defined. Disability is a long term inauspicious status of a individual ( mental or physical ) which will adversely impact a individual ‘s work related public presentation.Better periphery benefitsSecured pensionsEt ceteraThese may be the constitutional elements of wellbeing. If decently executed or implemented, it may take to enhanced committedness, occupation satisfaction and work-life balance. Critical Evaluation of MethodologyThe methodological analysis employed is the standard methodological analysis for analysis and the writer has taken into consideration all the elements necessary except one point – ethnicity. There seems to be no reference of ethnicity in the methodological analysis. From the cultural point of position, wellbeing possibly perceived otherwise by people coming from assorted cultural background. This is approximately diversified background. Peoples are different and may hold different sentiment on wellbeing. May be the empirical consequences would be the same, yet it is of import to understand wellbeing from different cultural backgrounds. Harmonizing to Professor Binna Kandola OBE in his latest book provinces ‘We are so witting of the demand to look just that we conceal our biass, sometimes even from ourselves ‘ take from People Management 30 July 2009, page figure 26. Hypothesis 1Social relationships that exist between line directors and employees that are built on support and trust in direction from HRM patterns play an of import long-run function in the development of positive employee attitudes and behavior that constitute employee wellbeing at work and enhanced public presentation. Organizations that do non prosecute in these types of relationships will therefore perform worse in the long term than those that do non. The hypothesis is good founded, but in times of alteration, recession, ‘latest unemployment figures revealed that 7.1 per cent of the work force is now out of a occupation, the latest CIPD labor Market Outlook study, compiled by the professional services house KPMG ‘ People Management 21 May 2009, page7 the normative recommendations by the writer may non be compatible in today ‘s context.. Hypothesis 2Organizations that promote and maintain committedness, occupation satisfaction and work-life balance ( wellbeing ) of their employees through the execution of high committedness, HRM patterns will profit most by superior organisational results and productiveness through set uping long-run relationships of support and trust with employees. Organizations that do non pay attending to employee wellbeing at work will hold in the long term to cover with the effects of less productive employees. The methodological analysis employed is compatible with the hypothesis. But the hypothesis seems to propose, a long term position, within which type of organisation is what needs to be established. Evidence to back up the decision is good founded. Statement of partsIt needs to be acknowledged that the British Library and on line library has greatly facilitated the procedure of deriving cognition and using the cognition in the reappraisal. At the same clip, the counsel provided by the HR lector has besides enhanced the reappraisal accomplishments which has been applied and will be put to prove in all future research work. Besides, People Management published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has provided the modern-day HR issues. Discussion and DecisionFrom a reading of the scholarly work of Nicole Renee Baptiste, it is clear from the writers ‘ statement the well-being, the cardinal subject, is viewed as ‘People ‘s overall sense of felicity. ‘ In other words, what makes employees happy at work or why should employees wish to work for one company instead than another? What information influences employee ‘s determination to do that kind of pick? Harmonizing to the writer, HR patterns make the difference which is supported by the empirical probe and is besides endorsed by modern-day and direction gurus. But, from a practician ‘s point of position, HR Practices require more elucidation. HR PRACTICESIt is the benefits which are seeable, attracts employees and it is the existent demands of the current and possible employees which may represent employee well-being and do employees experience happy to work for the organisation. This being the ground, employee perceptual experience on the constitutional elements of wellbeing may convey light a more practical attack to the subject of wellbeing and associate it to public presentation by good devised research methodological analysis. What makes the survey of HR interesting is all HR issues are linked to other maps and detaching HR from the other maps is hard. The brave effort by the writer is to foreground Wellbeing must be appreciated. In decision, wellbeing must and will mount up the ladder of HR docket which is witnessed by recent formation of the Institute of Wellbeing, ( People Management, August 2009 ) . Mentions:Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service ( ACAS ) ( 2005 ) Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. ‘Life anticipation and Numberss in employment are higher than of all time before, yet around 175 million on the job yearss were lost to illness in 2006 ( Dame Carol Black ‘s Review of the wellness of Britain ‘s working population ‘Working for a healthier tomorrow ‘ presented to the Secretary of State for Health and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, 17 March 2008. Mike Noon, Re-assessing Human Resource Management, edited by Paul Blyton and Peter Turnbull, Sage Publications, 1996, page 16. Mullins, L.J. ( 2005 ) . Management and Organizational Behaviour, 7th Edition. , FT Prentice Hall Peoples Management published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development ( all the diaries have been consulted from January 1 2009 boulder clay day of the month ) Peoples Management, January 2009 published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Peoples Management, 30 May 2009 published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Peoples Management 30 July 2009 and August published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Personnel Manager, Law Pack Publishing, 2005 Monetary value, A. ( 2004 ) . Human Resource Management in a Business Context, 2nd Edition, Thomson Learning Torrington, D. , Hall, L. and Taylor, S ( 2005 ) Human Resource Management, 6th Edition. , FT Prentice Hall

Communication and Presenting Information

What is active listening? Active listening is a person’s ability and willingness to listen and understand. Often we people talk to each other. We might not listen at a time because lack of attentiveness, which can distract the speaker. In way active listening can be called as responding to another person that develops mutual understanding. Active listening is process in which the listener paraphrases in its own words what the speaker had said to confirm or clarify of accuracy of the message. Active listening involves listening with your head and your heart; that is, you listen to the content of the message but also the feelings behind the message. The skill of active listening involves paying attention with empathy to the listener, as opposed to distracted denying, cynical or ostrich behavior. New session leaders of alcoholics anonymous meetings are advised to’†¦. Take cotton form your ears and put it in your mouth’. (Hogan, 2000) Listening can wrongly be vi ewed as a passive activity; the speaker talks and the listener listen’s. The listener is silent and passive and the speaker is active and verbal. When the speaker finishes its talking, the assumption is that the message has been accurately received by the listener, with no observation participation or effort active listening statement. â€Å"The most basic of all human needs is the need to be understood†. (Fujishin,1997) Listening does not mean just have sit with the mouth shut stirring at the person. A dead body can do that. It is an active process which requires participation to understand fully the meaning of a communication. Listening actively involves clarifying, paraphrasing, giving feedback. Paraphrasing: state in your own word what the speaker had said in the talk. It is sign of good listening. It keeps the listener busy trying to understand and know that other person means rather than blocking. Clarifying: it goes along with paraphrasing. It means asking questions until the listener get the correct picture. In order to understand fully what the speaker said. Clarifying assist the listeners to sharpen its listening focus so that the listener hears more than vague generalities. Giving Feedback: feedback is what active listening depends on. After paraphrasing and clarifying the listener gives an example what had been said and hopefully understands it. This is the point at which the listener can talk about reaction. In freely way the listener share its thought, felt or sensed. Active listening is really one of the mostly physical and mentally challenging aspects of facilitation. Listening sometime does not come easy for some people not because they are not willing to listen but because they are not able to do so. Actually their mind does not come up with the total picture because some people see the world in one dimension. This inability to listen using both side of the brain can cause misinterpretation, miscommunication and miscalculation. As a result the listener with in ability could not be able to deal with logic of a relationship and also with the emotional component. Therefore this unbalanced use of brain often results in the inability of the listener understand all the essential signs form the person speaking. Therefore active listening require usage both side of brain. Unfortunately there are few people who are able to understand this fact who instead see this skill in one reflecting use of the both side of brain. Taking holistic approach toward listening requires special discipline or rules on the part of the listener. The basis reason is that many listeners tend to fall into their own comfort zones by in taking what they want to hear and skipping rest of the important data and facts. As a result hearing selectively can lead to incorrect conclusion of data and information. Listening is like art were there are opportunities for huge errors. â€Å"This information is taken from the Source: Kliem (2007) â€Å"Effective Communications for Project Management† CRC Press Feature of active listening Active listening motivates the person to listen carefully which eventually motivates the speaker to talk effectively. Active listening helps the speakers to identify that whether the listener is taking afford to understand thing with any distraction and helps the listener to clear their doubt and revert back the message to the speaker in order to give idea that he as understood. The distraction is big treat while listening and speaking, were the listener forgets the point or get miss leaded about speaker’s talk or message, were as speaker also gets frustrated and won’t put his best effort. The active listener use both side of brain. They see the skill as one reflecting the use of the right or left side of the brain. The left side of the brain highlights facts, organizational, logical reasoning and thinking and discipline and accuracy in thought. It is extremely goal and analysis oriented. Active listening exclusively from this viewpoint can result in ignoring the important emotional message of the speaker: for example the importance on calculating metric is left brain activity. Focusing on scheduling and cost performances index as a measure of success is a prime example of left brain thinking. The right side of the brain highlights emotional and sensory view. Imaging and imagining are two quiet actions of this side of the brain. The importance is on nonverbal communication and impulsive behavior. Active listening from this view point can result in ignoring or skipping the important data and fact and being influenced by the speaker. Most common example of active listening is boards meeting of the company were each directors or shareholders as listener listen actively because every decision raised in the company is important and should be planned in order to achieve objective and goals. BARRIERS OF ACTIVE LISTENING â€Å"Man inability to communicate is a result of his failure to listen effectively, skillfully and with understanding to other human beings†. Carl roger,1850) The biggest barrier of the active listening is the unconscious nature of the process. When we listen to take in information from all of our sense continuously and for which automatic we give a meaning to what we take in. Responding without thinking for the first is easy, as there are some people who use very little of their full listen ing capacity because they do not intentionally put their full energy into it. However there are barriers to listening beside the environmental barriers. Some of the common see barriers are: Negative and positive trigger: there are certain words, sound, phrases; gesture that can draw out an emotional response from the person. A positive trigger is phrases or word that produces a good feeling for the listener and negative trigger is a phrase or word that produces feeling such as anger. The trigger causes when a person reacts before for thinking. The listener just by hearing few words has a preprogrammed understanding and response because the trigger cuts off the information gathering actions of the senses and can show the way to greatly mistaken estimation. This trigger interferes with the listeners listening because the listeners immediately change their attention to the emotions that they are experiencing. Any effective listener can identify their own trigger in order to gain their conscious control of their action and listen more effectively. ?Difference in word definition: No two people have same meaning for the words or phrase. These differences in meaning can lead to misinterpreting and misunderstanding. A responsible person first check with the speaker and helps groups builds up harmony on the definition of important words and phrases. Personal issues: every person has important personal issues beside the work life. Sometimes these issues want a huge attention and take a lot of energy which make the person tough to actively listen at some moment. A Responsible person first observes the effect of the personal issues and then takes time to deal with them. When it is time to listen, they intentionally remind themselves to use active listening process. For example a manager who is going through break up found it difficult to listen during board meeting. But his boss was supportive and understanding; however at that moment the manager should put his personal matters at a side and meet his obligations of the organization. ?Poor physical surroundings: poor physical surrounding involves Noisy, distracting or uncomfortable places and situation make it hard to listen and also make it difficult to focus on what the speaker is explaining. ?Tiredness: it becomes difficult to listen actively when a person is tried. Active listening requires active or alert mind and energetic body to considerate. A student in order to be active listener should get good night sleep before attending the early morning lecture so that the student considerate without any tiredness. ?Filter: Your beliefs, values, assumption, expectation, past experiences and interest all these things interfere with active listening. There are subtle and thus are hard to detect. For instant, think as if your enemy sitting beside you, eventually you will be thinking some else rather that listening to the speaker. Importance’s of active listening Active listening is an important skill that can bring changes in people. Changes as such in attitude toward themselves and others and also bring changes in your vital value and physical philosophy. People who contain active listening skill are more emotionally mature, less defensive, have more experiences, more independent and less demanding. The people who listen sensitively tend to listen themselves with more care so they are make clear about what they are thinking and feeling. Some of common Importance of active listening is: ? It helps you to focus on one task without any distraction and enable you to get clear picture of what speaker try to explain. It helps you to develop your interest in listening and keep you active and alert. ?It keeps you way from misinterpretation and misunderstanding of idea of other person because understanding other person is very difficult. ?It helps to develops trust between listener and speaker. It isn’t very often an individual is given the opportunity to share what’s really on his mind or deep in his heart without be attacked and rescued. This is one of the most important rewards of actively listening for understanding where the speaker trusts you. Conclusion Listening well is an essential component of every successful person. Active listening takes a lot of energy and very irritating to mirror every statement during conversation. At some extend, it can drive person crazy. A person should keep active listening for those occasions when the person require clarifying the speaker’s message, the speaker want to feel understanding of listeners. Active listening just encourages a person to set aside the trouble of self talk, in order to get mixed up with what the others are relating and to experience totally what they feeling. You will be shocked to discover that when you focus on your speaker rather than yourself, it become far easier for you to think of things to say. As said by Fritz Perls â€Å"the pictures of the world do not enter us automatically, but selectively. We don’t see, we look for, search, scan for something. We don’t hear all the sounds of the world, we listen†. References 1. Hoppe(2007) â€Å"Active Listening: Improve Your Ability to Listen and Lead† London Publisher: Center for Creative Leadership 2. Ivey , Bradford Ivey & Zalaquett (2009) â€Å"Intentional Interviewing and Counseling: Facilitating Client Development in a Multicultural Society† Publisher: Cengage Learning 3. Jones (2008) â€Å"Introduction to Counselling Skills: Text and Activities† Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd. 4. Moyet(2005) â€Å"Understanding the nursing process: concept mapping and care planning for students† Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 5. Weaver & Farrell (1997) â€Å"Managers as facilitators: a practical guide to getting work done in a changing workplace† Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers 6. Fujishin(2007) â€Å"Creating effective groups: the art of small group communication† Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield 7. Kliem(2007) â€Å"Effective Communications for Project Management† Publisher: CRC Press 8. McKay, Davis & Fanning (2009) â€Å"Messages: The Communication Skills Book† Publisher: New Harbinger Publications 9. Spencer & Pruss (1997) â€Å"The professional secretary's handbook† Publisher: Barron's Educational Series 10. Farrell & Weaver (2000) â€Å"The Practical Guide to Facilitation: A Self-Study Resource† Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers 11. Garner(1997) â€Å"Conversationally speaking: tested new ways to increase your personal and social effectiveness† Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional 12. http://www. gordontraining. com/artman2/uploads/1/ActiveListening_RogersFarson. pdf (accessed 6 august 2009)