Thursday, November 28, 2019

Consumer Decision-Making Styles of Gen Y Consumers in Malaysia Essay Example

Consumer Decision-Making Styles of Gen Y Consumers in Malaysia Essay Consumer Decision-Making Styles of Gen Y Consumers in Malaysia Introduction Market segmentation is a crucial element in marketing because goods can no longer be produced and sold without considering consumer needs and recognizing the characteristic of those needs. Due to the highly competitive environment nowadays, attracting and retaining enough loyal customers plays an important key role when developing business strategies. Therefore, business should understand and target consumer from different background and culture differently in order to effectively adapt their marketing strategies (Yeong Lovett, 2010). In general, there are many demographic variables can be used to segment consumer market, for instance income, age, gender, ethnicity, marital status and household size. Among these variables, gender has been and continues to be one of the most popular forms of market segmentation for a significant proportion of product and services. According to marketing scholars (Meyers-Levy Sternthal, 1991; Darley Smith, 1995) argue that gender-based segmentation, especially if it is based on biological sex per se, meets several of the requirements for successful implementation: the segments were easy to identify, easy to access, and large enough for consumer products and services to be marketed profitably. In addition, there are many studies in the past also provided considerable evidence that gender relates to consumers’ perceptions, attitudes, preferences and purchase decisions(Mitchell Walsh, 2004; Bakewell Mitchell, 2006). We will write a custom essay sample on Consumer Decision-Making Styles of Gen Y Consumers in Malaysia specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Consumer Decision-Making Styles of Gen Y Consumers in Malaysia specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Consumer Decision-Making Styles of Gen Y Consumers in Malaysia specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Because gender has been identified as one of the significant factor in understanding consumer behavior and as a fundamental market segmentation index for companies to satisfy their customer’ demand, therefore marketer should endeavor to understand the gender differences in decision-making styles. In addition, research addressing the issue of gender differences in decision-making styles could help marketers to find better ways of communicating with both sexes and to guide marketing mix decisions (Mitchell Walsh, 2004). Literature Review According to Williams, Page, Petrosky and Hernandez (2010), Generation Y also is referred to as the Millenials or Echo Boomers. They were born during 1977-1994 and are in the 15-32 age range as of 2009. They are children of the original Baby Boomers and their numbers rival that of the Baby Boomers. They grew up in a time of immense and fast-paced change including virtually full-employment opportunities for women, dual-income households as the standard, and having computers at college and home. Moreover Gen Y consumers are more likely to complete their tasks online in just one click in making their decisions (Sengupta Titus, 2012). Starting in 2000, when the Millennials began attending college, they began to be studied by researchers and marketers to determine the generation’s overriding characteristics. Consumer decision? making styles can be defined â€Å"as mental orientations characterizing a consumer’s approach to making choices† (Sproles Kendall, 1986, p. 268). The aim of Sproles and Kendall (1986) was to provide a potentially useful instrument to assist marketers to better understand consumers’ decision-making styles in purchasing. As consequence, they developed the original 40? item Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) scale, which identified eight characteristics related to consumer decision? making styles. The CSI provides a quantitative instrument for classifying different consumer decision? making styles into distinct categories of shopping orientation. Through empirical research, Sproles and Kendall (1986) defined the following eight categories of decision -making styles namely: 1) perfectionism and high-quality conscious: Consumers carefully search for the best quality in product; 2) brand conscious and price equals quality: Consumer choose to buy more expensive, well known national brands, and believing that a higher price means better quality; 3) novelty and fashion-conscious: likes new and innovative products and gains excitement from seeking out new things; 4) recreational and hedonistic: finds shopping a pleasant activity and shop just for the fun of it; 5) price conscious and value for money: consumer which has high consciousness of sale price and likely to be comparison shoppers; 6) impulsive and careless: Consumer who do not plan their shopping and appear unconcerned about how much he or she spends; 7) confused by overchoice: These consumer are experiences information overload in the market due to perceiving too many brand s and stores and have difficulties making choices and 8) habitual and brand-loyal: These consumers select favorite brands and stores repeatedly overtime. Hiu, Siu, Wang and Chang (2001) revealed three prominent market segments through their study namely: 1. )Trendy, perfectionistic consumers: who frequent shopping and take it as an enjoyment. They are interested in high quality and fashionable items, read fashion magazines, watch various advertisements to gain trendy fashion information and tend to supportive with foreign brand which is high quality and fashionable styling. 2. ) Tradisional, pragmatic consumer: who do not view shopping as a enjoyment activity to them. They are price conscious, not interested in fashion styling and most probably choosing local brands. 3. Confused by overchoice: these consumers tend not to read magazines or advertisement on fashion, avoid exposure to too much information, and only purchase local brands which they are familiar. According to Bakewell an d Mitchell (2003), five meaningful and distinct decision-making groups were found in the study of decision-making styles of adult female Generation Y consumers in the UK: â€Å"recreational quality seekers†, â€Å"recreational discount seekers†, â€Å"trend setting loyals†, â€Å"shopping and fashion uninterested† and â€Å"confused time/money conserving†. In their later study on decision making styles of male consumers in the UK (Bakewell Mitchell, 2004), all of the original eight traits plus four new traits namely; store-loyal/low-price seeking, time-energy conserving, confused time restricted and store-promiscuity were identified. From their study it shows that the potential of the CSI for segmenting market as meaningful and different groups of male consumers with different decision making styles. Despite of previous studies which reported gender differences in decision-making styles of consumer, Mitchell and Walsh (2004) compared the decision-making styles of male and female shoppers in Germany. From the research, they managed to verify the construct validity of all eight CSI factors for female shopper and four of the factors for male shoppers. In consequence, they also concluded that male consumers were slightly less likely to be perfectionists, somewhat less novelty and fashion conscious, and less likely to be confused when making purchases compared to female consumers. Years after that, Bakewell and Mitchell (2006) undertook a similar study in the UK by using a sample of 480 male and female undergraduate students, they found that nine decision-making style were common to both genders. Through the study they had discovered three traits for male (store-loyal/low-price seeking, confused time-restricted and store-promiscuity) and three new traits for female traits (bargain seeking, imperfectionism and store loyal). There are few studies recently which had attempted to thoroughly explore the antecedent and consequences of consumer decision-making styles. Ghodeswar (2007) found that that seven out of eight dimensions of consumer decision-making style proposed by Sproles and Kendall (1986) in his study of consumer decision-making styles among Indian students. The only style which was not confirmed in his data is â€Å"price consciousness/ value for money consumer†. Gupta, Brantley Jackson (2010) found that consumers Generation Y at Midwestern University tend to be brands store loyal when they are buying high involvement product. Kambiz Fereshteh (2011) found that husband and wife have divergent decision-making styles and their family structure as a social-structural variable can be influenced by the decision-making styles of family members which is related to their purchasing behavior. Lastly, it is believed that male and female consumer in Malaysia may also have certain distinctive characteristic in decision-making during shopping and purchasing. But those characteristic could be have equal interest to both researchers and marketing practitioners. Hence, this paper will fill the gap by focusing on the differences in decision-making styles on gender in the Malaysia context. Methodology According to the past study, most of the researchers prepared a structured questionnaire based on literature review and objectives of the study. Consumers decision-making were measured using the 40-items of Consumer Style Inventory (CSI), developed by Sproles and Kendall (1986). All scales were measured on a 5-point Likert-type scales ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The reliabilities of the CSI scale, according to Sproles and Kendall (1986), ranged from 0. 48 to 0. 76. The scales items were translated into Malay language with minor changes in wording to clarify the meaning. In addition, some demographic questions were included in the questionnaire. And most of the questionnaire was self-administered to non-probability sample of male and female undergraduate students in Malaysia. Finding and Analysis Common Factors for both Male and Female According to the research study of Safiek and Hayatul (2009) in Malaysia, the decision-making of Malaysian young consumer for both gender have similarities namely: 1. ) Quality consciously: meaning that they prefer to buy more durable and quality product. 2. ) Brand consciously: it shows that they set high standards and have high expectations for the products they buy. Moreover they choose to buy the product which is heavily advertised and well-know national brands. 3. ) Fashion consciousness: this shows that both genders are seem to gain pleasure from seeking out new things and keep up-to date with fashionable attractive styles. 4. ) Confused by overchoice: This factor shows that they feel over-loaded with the information on various brands products and find it very hard to choose the best product during shopping. 5. ) Satisfying and value seeking: concluded that if both items were identical in both sample, they will carefully find the best value for money product to be purchased which is also satisfied their needs. Male Factors Again from the study of Safiek and Hayatul (2009), there are two factors found for males namely brand loyalty and time-energy conserving. For brand loyalty, male consumers score higher than female consumers on this factor because they tend to have favorite brands and will use these habitually. Next, time-energy conserving which was not found in females but it characterizes males who often save energy by making their shopping trips as fast as possible in the same stores. Moreover, males have the perception that going shopping is a waste of time and they don’t give their purchases much thought. In overall, both of these results show the similarity with previous researchers, Bakewell and Michell (2006) in the UK. Female factors From the study of Safiek and Hayatul (2009) research, it shows that there are three female factors found namely price consciousness, recreational and shopping avoidance. Female consumers scored higher than male consumers on price consciousness shows that female are more aware of the sale prices and more often choose to purchase lower price products. Next, female shoppers are more particular on recreational or pleasant shopping activity compared to male shoppers. And this factor is consistent with Mitchell and Walsh’s (2004) and Bakewell and Mitchell’s (2006) which characterization of a recreational consumer. The last factor is shopping avoidance which is very exclusive to female consumers and posed an opposite trait of recreational. However the high scored shows that if the shopping is unpleasant, female shoppers will tend to shop as quickly by purchasing the first brands or product that seem to be good enough. Conclusion In conclusion, through the research of consumer decision making styles, it offers a great opportunity to understand the characteristic or style of consumer towards their shopping behavior. And this consumer style inventory provides a fundamental for consumer decision making styles and has practical application advantages for marketers in their marketing strategic. However this study has a limitation because it only covered a specific segment of young adult in an local university in Malaysia. For future recommendation, there is a need to study these decision making styles among the larger population across different segment in order to get better converge of Malaysia young consumers. References Sproles, G. Kendall, E. (1986). A Methodology for Profiling Consumers’ Decision-Making Styles, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Vol. 20 (2), pp. 267-279 Mitchell, V. , Walsh, G. (2004). Gender Differences in German Consumer Decision-Making styles. Journal of Consumer Behavior, 3(4), 331-346 Bakewell, C. Mitchell, V. W. (2003) Generation Y Female Consumer Decision-Making styles. International Journal of Retail Distribution Management, 31(2), 95-106. Bakewell, C. Mitchell, V. W. (2006). Male versus Female Consumer Decision Making. Journal of Business Research, 59, 1297-1300. Hiu, A. S. Y. , Siu, N. Y. M. , Wang, C. C. L. Chang, L. M. K. (2001). An Investigation of Decision-Making Styles of Consumers in China. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 35 (2), 326-345. Safiek, M. Hayatul, S. S. (2009). Consumer Decision-Making Styles in Malaysia: An Exploratory Study of Gender Differences. European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 10, Number 4 Safiek, M. (2009). An Investigation of Consumer Decision-Making Styles of Young-Adults in Malaysia. International Journal of Business and Management. Vol. 4, No. 4 Darley, W. K. Smith, R. E (1995). Gender Differences in Information Processing Strategies: An Empirical Test of the Selectivity Model in Advertising Response. Journal of Advertising, 24(1), 41-59. Meyer-Levy, J. Sternthal, B. (1991). Gender Differences in the Use of Message Cues and Judgments. Journal of Marketing Research, 29 (1), 84-96. Kaylene C. Williams, K. C. , Page, R. A, Petrosky, A. R. Hernandez, E. H. (2010). Multi-Generational Marketing: Descriptions, Characteristics, Lifestyles, and Attitudes. Journal of Applied Business and Economics, Vol. 11(2) Sengupta, D. Titus, R. (2012). Evaluating Environmental Variables to assess Exhibited Behaviour: A Study of Gen Y. International Conference on Technology and Business Management Yeong, N. C. Lovet, M. G. (2010). Consumer Decision-Making Styles of Hispanic American College Students: A Consumer Styles Inventory Approach. American Journal of Business Research, Vol. 3, No 2 Ghodeswar B. M. (2007), â€Å"Consumer Decision-Making Styles Among Indian Students†, Alliance Journal of Business Research, Vol. 3, Spring 2007, pp. 36-48. Gupta, M. , Brantley, A. , Jackson, V. P. (2010). Product Involvement as a Predictor of Generation Y Consumer Decision Making Styles. The Business Review, Cambridge, Vol. 14, Num. 2 Kambiz, H. H. Fereshteh, L. (2011). Influence of Family Structure on Consumer Decision-making Style in Iran. International Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 6, No. 11; November 2011

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Dissertation Subjects

Dissertation Subjects Dissertation Subjects Dissertation Subjects The choice of a dissertation subject is very important, and it should be started long before you begin writing your paper. You can be a skillful researcher and a brilliant writer, but if you fail to make an adequate choice among lots of possible dissertation subjects, your work will probably not be a success. The Choice of Dissertation Subjects Choosing your dissertation subject, consider its scope. Your subject should be quite broad to allow you to gather enough evidence and consider all the questions within your topic. For example, if you are assigned to write a dissertation in geography, it is not reasonable to write about the problem of pollution in the UK, because you will not be able to cover this topic within the scope of your dissertation. That means your subject should be quite narrow for you to be able to make a deep analysis of the problem. What is more, your investigation should fit in your word limit. Dissertation subjects should be evaluated according to the students background knowledge. It is not a good idea to start writing about something which is absolutely new to you, you will not be able to develop it within the time you have. Actually, you do not have enough time to waste it on experiments. Good Dissertation Topics Are Innovative You know that good dissertation subjects should be new. Still, it does not mean they should be completely new, you are supposed to investigate subjects that already exist. But it is important that you investigate this subject in a new, original way. Choosing a dissertation subject is to some extent more difficult than writing a dissertation itself. You will have to read a lot, considering possible dissertation subjects, to determine what has been done before. The results of your work will be very useful when you pass over to writing a literature review and proposal. Make use of the resources your advisor can offer you, he can show you the way where you can find a subject worthy of research. Your supervisor will probably offer you some dissertation subjects to choose from, and it will be reasonable to accept this help. Choose the one appealing to you. Remember, that if you have support of your supervisor, your committee will probably be more loyal to you, too. Final Note on Dissertation Topics Finally, the most important aspect of a dissertation subject is that it should be interesting for you, as a good topic is the one that you like!

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The role of advanced practice in nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The role of advanced practice in nursing - Essay Example Scholarly articles shall be utilized in order to attain a comprehensive discussion of this subject matter. Personal nursing experiences shall also be integrated into this paper in order to help substantiate the discussion. This paper is being undertaken in order to undertake a thorough evaluation of advanced practice nurse and its crucial role in the health care practice. Advanced practice nurses are defined or described in a variety of ways. The Nursing Scope and Standards of Nursing define advanced practice nurses as those â€Å"having advanced specialized clinical knowledge and skills through master’s or doctoral education that prepares for specialization, expansion, and advancement of practice† (as cited by Jansen & Zwygart-Stauffacher, 2010, p. 5). In this case, specializing refers to the act of concentrating or focusing one’s practice into a part of the greater nursing practice. Specializing in maternal and child care may be one of the areas of advanced practice nursing. It is focused on the care given to the pregnant mother, and subsequently her delivery and child care. It focuses on what the mother and child evidently needs and how the nurse can alleviate such needs. Advanced nursing practice includes the expansion of skills and knowledge – beyond that which is normally covered by nursing practice, sometimes even overlapping the usual boundaries of medical practice (Jansen & Zwygart-Stauffacher, 2010). In the practical setting, this may include the advancement of nursing practice into radiology or diagnostics. Traditionally, the reading and interpreting laboratory and radiography results was the province of radiologists and diagnosticians; but now, some fields of advanced practice nursing now include radiology nursing and diagnostics. This strongly represents the advances in the nursing practice, where the nursing care has gone beyond independent

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Green Computing Research Project Part 2 Assignment

Green Computing Research Project Part 2 - Assignment Example The total budget of the project is $500,000, from which $200,000 will be applied for procuring the hardware, allied equipment, research document and allied tasks. Whereas, the remaining balance would be utilized for recruitment, project staffing, and allied items. The goal of the project is to provide an extensive research report that would specify the financial analysis, recommendations for green technology implementation and recommended solution forms. The report would contain a list of all the green technologies, with details of only those which would have been agreed by all the stakeholders. The details of green technology would include, but not limited to the implementation process, time and cost along with a cost-benefit analysis. The forms would include only the recommended green technologies along with their formal project proposals. The information that would be provided in the research document would be accurate, concise, consistent and complete in all respects.

Monday, November 18, 2019

UNIT 3 Science DB Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

UNIT 3 Science DB - Essay Example In fact whatever energy I am using at my home is residential use of energy. Now it was time to go college. I picked up my bike to reach there. In this process I used energy for transportation and fuel was petrol. College classroom lighting was also using commercial electricity. After the day I reached back home and after dinner and couple of hours on internet, went to sleep. My primary source of energy at home is electricity. Day 2 /Day 3: Daily activities of these days were almost same, apart from my visit to hospital on day three. There also lightings, lifts, ACs and other medical equipment were running on electricity supplied by electric company but backup was also available in form of generators running on diesel. One more form of energy which I saw here, was that for heating water. They used solar panels for heating it. In above experiences, main supplier for my daily energy needs was our electrical company, and I could not have experience of largest energy end use i.e. industrial, with highest expected growth rate of 2.4 percent per year (International Energy Outlook, 2006, p.1). Our electricity company is MAHAGENCO. As per its website, it generates electricity mostly from its Thermal Power Plants which uses Coal as the main fuel. This fact is in line with world over trend, wherein 40 percent of electricity is produced from Coal as a main fuel If I look back on my energy consumption, there are various areas where in I can make certain changes to make my self more energy efficient. This can be achieved by reducing my gross energy consumption as well as using more and more alternative energy sources. By reducing my energy consumption I would be contributing, whatever little it may be, towards reducing anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide, which is estimated to grow at an average rate of 2.1 percent per year from 2003 to 2030 (International Energy Outlook, 2006, p.72), and associated green house effects. By

Friday, November 15, 2019

Report on Organisational Change and Multiculturalism in IKEA

Report on Organisational Change and Multiculturalism in IKEA The following is an integrative report on organisational change brought about by multiculturalism in organisations with specific emphasis on the concept of diversity management in relation to organisational culture. With the help of a study on IKEA, the international chain of home and office furniture stores, the report will attempt to analyse the challenges faced by international managers in the process of keeping up with the demands of multiculturalism, a direct consequence of globalisation. Although the values and practices of IKEAs corporate culture will be discussed in general, in order to narrow the geographic area of research, the report will focus more on IKEAs franchise in Dubai, UAE. The report will make extensive use of relevant literature in order to understand the issues in question by applying the literature to the organisation and by doing so, will attempt to make further recommendations and meaningful conclusions. I.1 IKEA Background: IKEA prides itself to be the most successful and largest furniture retailer in the world, and boasts provision of everything and anything for a home, having products suited for people of all ages, and all this at low prices. The company promises excellent value for money spent with all of their products designed with an emphasis on natural colours to bring a light and airy atmosphere within a home. This concept is based purely on IKEAs Swedish origins, where people pride themselves in living in harmony with nature with simple home designs which offer maximum efficiency in all weathers (http://www.iamaceo.com/marketing/ikea-brand-success-strategy/). IKEAs vision, to create a better everyday life for the many people is reportedly largely aimed at the global middleclass which is also evident from their business idea, to offer a wide range of well designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford the m (http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/about_ikea/press_room/student_info.html). With 265 stores worldwide, where 235 are owned by the IKEA group while the remaining 30 by franchisees outside the group, the extent of IKEAs expansion is obvious (IKEA, 2007). IKEAs corporate culture is based on the concept of shared values, some of which, as the organisation proclaims, are togetherness, cost-consciousness, respect, and simplicity. These values project a very democratic form of leadership where considerable freedom is given to employees to contribute to the companys success. IKEA claims to treat all employees, no matter what rank they carry, as partners in the business. The company also boasts no restrictions upon employees in using their own initiatives and offers full support to meet each individuals needs, ambitions and capabilities. I.2 IKEA Dubai and Al Futtaim Trading: The IKEA franchise in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) was first initiated in 1991 with the local Al Futtaim Trading Company taking ownership. This collaboration has been, since its inception, a major success story in the UAE and other parts of the Middle East, as many new IKEA outlets have been strategically opened over the years by the group and have achieved great competitive advantages and overall productivity. The Al Futtaim group was first established in the 1930s as a trading company. Headquartered in Dubai, the group has seen a rapid progress in its operations not only within the UAE but in more than 65 countries across the Middle East, and in various sectors of business. The group attributes its success to its ability to respond to the changing needs of customers and the societies in which it operates through an entrepreneurial and customer focused approach. Employees of the group enjoy a democratic culture made possible through clearly defined objectives and values, enabled through clear flow of information via a decentralised structure. Al Futtaim also prides itself for the ability to proactively manage change whilst upholding the values of integrity, service and social responsibility. (http://www.al-futtaim.ae/content/groupProfile.asp; http://www.ikeadubai.com/content/aboutUs.asp) Apart from managing many of IKEAs retail operations in the UAE, the Al Futtaim group carry the sole responsibility of recruiting personnel for the franchise, and also providing valuable information about changes in the local political scene, culture, economy and other issues like new technologies, threats of competitors, legal issues etc, effectively conducting internal and external analyses (SWOT and PESTEL) for IKEA. This contribution has greatly helped the IKEA group over the years to align their regional operations according to changing environments, effectively creating a strategic fit between the organisation and the environment (http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/16374.html). I.3 The Culture Change Problem: For an organisation that boasted fairness in employment and empowerment to employees through a democratic leadership and structure, and flexible organisational culture, IKEA had initially employed an ethnocentric approach of management where only Swedes were recruited for management positions so as to ensure the original Swedishness of the organisation. But this approach eventually met with criticism and a temporary setback in IKEAs overseas operations, where the organisation was faced with the task of revising its overseas recruitment policies in order to meet the demands of local cultures and employment laws (Kling and Goteman, 2003; Kochan et al, 2002). According to Bjork (1998), every time IKEA was faced with a struggle due to internationalisation, new cultural management policies would be implemented, the latest being Diversity Management. IKEA is well known for having a rapid internationalisation process from its Swedish origins as a result of globalisation and its rapid expansion into countries with cultures very different from its original Swedish national culture (Hollensen, 2007). Although owned by franchisees in some countries, like the UAE, the IKEA concept and trademark are solely owned by Inter IKEA Systems B.V in Netherlands, giving the group considerable authority over franchises. This means Inter IKEA Systems B.V is the franchiser for all IKEA stores within or outside of the IKEA group, ensuring uniformity of corporate values, and the IKEA concept of self assembled furniture right from the centre (IKEA, 2007). IKEA has had to rapidly transform itself from an ethnocentric corporate culture to an organisation that embraces people of all backgrounds, and has in many communiquà ©s expressed the importance of having a culturally diverse workforce in order to obtain competitive advantage on the global scene. This is evident from the organisations recruitment websites in various countries, where emphasis is given for potential employees to be themselves, but at the same time adhere to shared corporate values such as simplicity, cost-consciousness, hard work etc, but almost all of the websites show a picture of a man and woman of Scandinavian origin (Bjork, 1998). This has created a paradox within the IKEA Groups core values, where there is still a strong emphasis on the companys Scandinavian background. Setting up operations in multicultural societies like Dubai meant the IKEA group has had to go through a rapid process of internal culture-change. This means a complete internationalisation of organisational culture, where key positions are not restricted to Swedish nationals, and communication systems had to be introduced to break geographical and cultural barriers. The partnership with Al Futtaim has played a major role for IKEA in achieving this change. In the following sections literature related to organisational culture-change, international recruitment processes and the inevitable resistance to culture will be studied and analysed. II. LITERATURE REVIEW: The purpose of this section is to acquire a deeper understanding of culture and its characteristics by means of metaphorical representation of organizations with the help of relevant literature. This may help us understand the significance of culture change, not just to gain competitive advantage, but for the very survival of an organization in an ever-changing environment. II.1. Organization and Society: Drawing the Parallels Within the process of cultural evolution there is a significant amount of similarity in the manner in which culture is manifested in business organizations and in society in general (Rollinson, 2005; Morgan, 1998). To understand cultural diversity in organizations, it would be helpful to understand its roots at a sociological level. Cultural diversity at the workplace is a direct result of multiculturalism in the society. A multicultural society simply denotes a society in which there exist several cultures (Watson, 2002). Culture is defined as, A pattern of shared assumptions a group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way you think, perceive, and feel in relation to those problems (Schein, 2004). The above definition suggests that culture is a shared activity of overcoming external and internal factors through methods that have been taught down to the group as acceptable and functional. A general view of cultural differences is that they affect intercultural encounters, usually by leading to misunderstanding or conflict, at both the individual and group levels (Larkey, 1996). Larkey explains that at the individual level, as different values, beliefs or worldviews are manifested in communication behaviours and as culture creates differing expectations and differing styles or patterns of speech, interpersonal misunderstanding and conflict can arise. At the group level, inter-group processes can be triggered by, for instance, an individuals non-verbal behaviour or ways of speaking which stereotypically represent a group (1996). It then becomes the responsibility of the leadership of the core society to introduce a culture and/or change its existing core culture to accommodate th e various differences brought in by the subcultures in an integrated manner, where these differences are acknowledged and valued (Neuliep, 2008). When the above sociological aspects of culture are compared to a business organization, the organization is the core society, and its culture, the core culture. We all refer to this as organizational culture. Analogically speaking, the organizational (core) culture should be designed in such a way that the employees of the company share a basic set of values and assumptions, which tie them to that particular organization. But, on the individual or group levels, each employee has his/her own cultural norms and practices beyond those they share with other members of the company, which can be safely termed as the subcultures within the organization (Bate, 1995). II.2 Cross-Cultural Communication: We all have an internal list of those we still dont understand, let alone appreciate. We all have biases, even prejudices, toward specific groups (Lantieri Patti, 1996). The above phrase sums up the main challenge in cross-cultural communication, the fact that we still dont understand the people we talk to on a daily basis. Communication is an intrinsic part of our daily lives, whether it is at our homes, at the workplace, in the groups we belong to, or in the community, and we can identify that its hard (DuPraw Axner, 1997). According to DuPraw and Axner (1997), culture is often at the root of communication challenges, and our culture influences how we approach problems and participate in groups and in communities. Anthropologists Avruch and Black expand the above views and argue that Ones own culture provides the lens through which we view the world; the logic by which we order it; and the grammar by which it makes sense (1993). DuPraw and Axner (1997) suggest that, becoming more aware of our cultural differences, as well as, exploring our similarities, can help us communicate with each other more effectively, and that cultural differences do not necessarily have to divide us from each other (1997). In an organisational context, the similarities lie in the core organisational culture that is common at the group level. Morgan (1998) explains the significance of effective communication and concludes that every organization is composed of individuals with different cultural traits and individual personalities, and these people are organised in some way or the other through these traits in order to achieve set objectives. Thus individuals are the basic building blocks around which an organization functions, and communication is the effective cement which holds the organization together. This puts forward the importance of an organisational culture that employs clear communication channels to all levels of its structure. II.3 Organization as a Living Being: Adapting to Change, by Aligning with the Environment It can be inferred from the preceding sections that change is necessary in order to promote peaceful existence between different culture groups, in the societal realm. Considering this, it may be safe to assume that similar changes need to be implemented in the organizational realm as well (Robbins and Judge, 2009; Pettinger, 1996). The question that may arise, however, is whether changing the existing culture means changing the entire organization. Culture is such an intrinsic quality of a human being at the individual level, and of a group at the societal level, that even though it may take time to change, it may end up changing more than just a few characteristics (Bate, 1995; Hofstede, 1997). This means that changing an organizations culture implies changing the very behaviour in which it expresses itself. Morgan (1998) interestingly likens an organization to an organism, and explains that, The image of an organism seeking to adapt and survive in a changing environment offers a powerful perspective for managers who want to help their organizations flow with change. (Pg 35) He argues that this analogy encourages us to learn the art of corporate survival by developing active organic systems that remain open to new challenges. In other words, as Brooks (2003) says, it helps us form a more proactive organization with a prospector philosophy of operation. Prospectors, he explains, see their environment as ever changing and seek continual strategic and structural adjustments to cope with those changes. These organizations are continually searching for new opportunities and in the process they may create change and uncertainty for others in their competitive environment. The opposite of prospectors, known as defenders, are more reactive in nature, as they act only when environmental changes force them to do so. This kind always sees stability and continuity all around (2003). Research shows that reactors are more prone to misperceptions of their environment than are prospectors. According to Morgan (1998), this is because different environments favour differe nt species of organisations based on different methods of organising and that congruence with the environment is the key to success. So it is evident that organisations are facing the enormous challenge of changing their internal environments in accordance with the external. II.4 The International Human Resources Function: the International Organisation will be called on to operate across a wide variety of competitive environments and yet somehow balance these diverse social, political and economic contexts with the requirements of the original home context. (Dowling et al, 2008, pg25) The above statement re-iterates all the topics discussed in this report so far, namely, the task of the organisation to be able to operate in different environments whilst staying true to its original corporate objectives. The international human resources management (IHRM) function, a recent extension to the normal HRM function in an organisation, aims to achieve this global competitive advantage by employing innovative recruitment strategies. The three main issues for IHRM are: the management and development of expatriates; the internationalisation of management throughout the organisation; and, creating a new corporate culture that would reflect on internationalising the whole organisation, by focusing on increasing the international experience of staff, to be able to effectively counter the frequency of cross-cultural interactions as a result of investing abroad (Hendry, 1994). As a result, IHRM covers a much wider spectrum of worldwide management of people (Dowling et al, 1999, 2008), and is concerned with how MNCs manage their geographically dispersed workforce by being able to dispose their resources to obtain and maintain local and global competitive advantage (Schuler et al, 2002). This clearly indicates IHRM as a means of strategic importance for MNCs, as it is a key element in achieving a balance between the need for control and coordination of foreign subsidiaries, and the need to adapt to local environments (Adler and Ghadar, 1990 Milliman et al., 1991, cited in Scullion, 2001, pg5). In other words, the need is for the organisation to implement common practices, like structure and technology that transcend national differences and form a commonality as to how the business operates across cultures (Kerr et al, 1973 Hickson et al, 1979 cited in Mullins, 1999), whilst not ignoring the essential differences in how these practices are communicated and applied to the local workforce of a given foreign subsidiary (Hofstede, 1997; Keeley, 2003). II.5 Resistance to Change: When a group seeks change in the way they do things, as with culture, there is the inevitability of resistance to this change. Researchers like have identified a few reasons for such resistance: fear of the unknown, referring to peoples natural tendency to keep away from uncertainty that creates anxiety. Resisting change is one way to reduce the anxiety; fear of failure, referring to peoples fear of whether or not they are up to the challenges being brought in by the change; disagreement with the need for change, where people genuinely believe that change is not necessary; losing something of value, where people fear either losing their dominant positions and/or jobs as a result of the change; leaving a comfort zone, in that people are happy where they are and would not want unnecessary disruption of current state; false beliefs, where people unrealistically believe change is not needed and everything will turn out fine; misunderstanding and lack of trust, where people do not understand the changes being made and/or do not trust the person(s) initiating the changes; and the fact that change may require more time and energy from individuals (Robbins, 1999; Mullins, 2003). Many ways to overcome resistance have been suggested, which include: effective communication and education including training programmes for staff to make them understand the need for change, and its implications; getting people to get involved in implementing the change process, where they can not oppose it later as they were partly responsible for it; negotiating with people certain requirements they may have to get the change underway; and in many cases imposing the change by force whether the people like it or not, as resistance may mean loss of positions/ jobs etc (Robbins, 2009; Mullins, 2003). III. APPLICATION TO IKEA In light of the above discussions, the company headed in the right direction in terms of its emphasis on multiculturalism at the workplace, especially amongst its independent franchisees. IKEA in Dubai working along with Al Futtaim has been successful in achieving this objective by recruiting local, talented individuals reflecting the diverse cultural demographics of the United Arab Emirates. This is in line with earlier literature discussion of societal and organisational cultures where the core culture needs to be designed to accommodate individual personal differences, but should also give employees a common framework. III.1 Changing the Organisational Culture, a Project: IKEAs efforts to change its internal culture to align with external factors in Dubai have been a major project management undertaking. This is because the company has had to effectively integrate its centralised and extremely complex organisational structure (although argued otherwise by the group) with the more decentralised and flexible structure of Al Futtaim. This required giving considerable power to the latter group in making decisions regarding changes to the way IKEA operated in the Middle East. Reduction of organisational levels to form a flatter structure itself is a project with time constraints. Due to the ever changing nature of external cultural factors, and due to the fact that internal cultural change is a slow and gradual process, the project management methodology that IKEA and Al Futtaim may have employed would have been the Adaptive Project Framework. The adaptive project framework works on the basis that the scope for change is variable, but within specified cost and time constraints. This gives the company significant flexibility by setting up periodic milestones, where progress is reviewed at each milestone until the ultimate objective is met. The company has full authority in deciding best business value and has the opportunity to change directions at any milestone if it thinks objectives are not being met by the project. The adaptive framework also works because it is based on the assumption that change is inevitable, and is designed to allow for changes accordingly. This is especially vital when seeking culture change (Billingham, 2008). III.2 Resistance within IKEA: The initial resistance to the changes in IKEAs culture may have come mainly from the fact that the company has had to tone down its emphasis on Swedish culture at the operational level in Dubai. Changing the organisational structure would have meant losing some key positions along the structure to enable integration with Al Futtaims structure. Focusing on recruiting local personnel would have meant redundancy and/or repatriation for existing Swedish international managers. This would have also meant that existing personnel would have had to adapt to working alongside with local personnel, which may have caused communication problems, friction between personnel etc. The best methods used for overcoming above problems would have been to educate existing IKEA personnel regarding local issues like culture, governance etc, educate and train local personnel in return about IKEAs core values and its Swedish roots, and the importance the company places in carrying out the legacy of its founder, provide clear communication between levels, and reducing barriers through effective information infrastructure. IV. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, change management can now be safely coined as a field in itself in modern businesses, especially in multinational organisations. Considering the study, more and more organisations would benefit from being prospectors rather than defenders, as this would prepare them to stay in tune with their market environments. It seems the group has lived up to their own professed comments when they say, We see the diversity issue as a matter of creating a more challenging business atmosphere and of course expanding the recruitment base including everyone and not just Swedish men. It also gives us a diverse workforce with a lot of positive business possibilities (Kling and Goteman, 2003). As far as the project of changing IKEAs culture is concerned, the company has successfully reached its goal of reaching the global middle class with its products. Whether it is through the IKEA group directly, or through franchises like Al Futtaim, IKEA has realised the importance of culture change and has subsequently implemented this change within its infrastructure. The companys extraordinary success, even with a narrow product range, but a range that has been constantly diversified according to the demands of the regions of operation, is testament to the success of the project. Through Al Futtaim, IKEA is now a household name all over the Middle East, thus expanding the range of its brand through undertaking a change in organisational culture.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Milgram’s Destructive Obedience Essays -- Psychology

Stanley Milgram was a social psychologist best known for an experiment he did regarding destructive obedience (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2011). According to McLeod, Milgram had originally set out to prove that Germans were somehow more obedient than Americans. This was a short while after WWII had finished and the horrors committed by the Nazis under Hitler’s authority had been learned. His experimental results were contradictory to the results predicted by fellow psychiatrists, college students and some adults of various occupations. They had predicted that very few people would obey an order that would harm another person; however, the actual results proved quite the opposite. Instead of proving that German’s were more obedient, Milgram opened the door to the possibility that anyone is capable of carrying out orders that would harm another person (2007). Douglas Navarick expanded on the experiment’s results and derived a three-stage model for defiance and withdrawal (2012). After comparing the three sources on the previously mentioned topic, it is my belief that the peer reviewed journal (Navarick, 2012) is the most credible. Its credibility is largely accredited to the established requirements of publication in the journal it is found in. Hockenbury and Hockenbury summarized Milgram’s experiments as simply as they could. The test subject was led to believe that the second participant was as uniformed as they were and that their roles in the experiment were chosen at random. They were told that the experiment was about learning and memory and the effect punishment has on them. The test subject was given the role of â€Å"teacher† and the other participant given the role of â€Å"learner† seemingly at random. The second partici... ... it means avoiding personal discomfort. A source is considered credible if it is accepted by general consensus of the experts of the field it concerns. It should also show the scientific facts that support it. A standalone source that does not show any form of reference to other psychologists that agree with or support his/her theory would not be considered as credible. Works Cited Hockenbury, D., & Hockenbury, S. (2011). Discovering Psychology (5th ed.). New York: Worth. McLeod, S. A. (2007). Simply Psychology; Obedience in Psychology. Retrieved 25 March 2012, from http://www.simplypsychology.org/obedience.html Navarick, D. J. (2012). Historical Psychology and the Milgram Paradigm: Tests of an Experimentally Derived Model of Defiance Using Accounts of Massacres by Nazi Reserve Police Battalion 101. Psychological Record, 62(1), 133-154.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Women in Islam

Article Summary This article examines the issue of women’s rights in Islam by introducing Islam and women’s rights in several different Muslim countries, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Indonesia. -The women in Islam are often viewed as a poor one, having to do whatever her husband, brother or father commands her to do. -This view is usually based on things picked up from what westerners see in the papers or on TV. -Not all Islamic countries follow the Qur’an and Ahadith as they say they are. (ex.In some of Islamic countries, it is acceptable for women to not cover their faces, women can drive, etc. -While female circumcision is not condoned by the Qur’an, it is still practiced in some predominantly Muslim areas in Africa. Egypt -The Women’s Rights Union started to have an impact on the ruling class of Egypt. -The Egyptian government signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) bill in 1981. -Gave women equal access to education, employment and work opportunities, equal pay for equal work and social security. Egyptian civil law, in accordance with Islamic law, gives women the right to possess, control and inherit property. -Unfortunately, women’s rights are still not being fully implemented, due to the restrictions of tradition, the government’s lack of interest in enforcing the laws and women’s own lack of awareness of their rights. -This lack of education has led to women being refused ownership of property and the right to divorce, despite legally being allowed to own property and divorce their husbands.Saudi Arabia -Women in Saudi Arabia are the victims of discrimination and human rights violations because of the gender bias in law, social mores and traditions. -They have gained some ground in terms of economic rights, but their civil and political rights are systematically violated. -Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive, leave the co untry without authorization from their husband or father, leave the house in unsuitable attire, hold high-ranking jobs or be involved in the government. It was not until 2000 that Saudi Arabian women were allowed their own ID cards; they had previously been registered on their husbands’ or fathers’ cards. -When investigations against women are carried out they are often conducted improperly and make use of unreliable evidence. Pakistan -Pakistan is a vast country with many laws in place to protect women’s rights. -Unfortunately, outside of the big cities, Pakistanis are generally ruled by tribal law rather than governmental law. -Most laws prohibiting the mistreatment of women are ignored. Not all girls are punished with death; some have acid splashed into their faces instead, scarring them for life and sometimes causing blindness. -Pakistani legislation defines both adultery and rape as ‘sexual intercourse without being validly married’ and does no t draw the distinction that one is forced while the other is not. -If a woman is raped and reports the crime or becomes pregnant, she has to prove that she was raped by either having the man’s admittance of the crime or four witnesses who saw the man force her into having sex. If not proven, she is charged with having an illicit sexual relationship with someone and is punished. -Pakistan does not have the personnel or equipment to do a proper forensic examination, so it comes down to witnesses and confession. -After one village or tribe has committed a perceived offence against another, the second village or tribe will try to gain ‘compensation’. This involves rape and mutilation of women or the murder of entire families. -Girls from one of the tribes can be forced under threat to marry men from the other tribe. The most common method of abusing a girl is making her feel that she is displeasing God by refusing to marry the man her parents wish her to. -Women in P akistan are generally only educated to a reasonable standard it from a wealthy family. -About 5% to 7% of women work, with low-paid jobs. Men and women are kept segregated in the workplace. Indonesia -Women in Indonesia are not as poorly treated as in other countries. -They have the right to own and sell property and livestock, to work, to choose to whom and when they get married and to divorce. -It is the women who propose marriage to a man, while men cannot propose at all. Women in Islam Article Summary This article examines the issue of women’s rights in Islam by introducing Islam and women’s rights in several different Muslim countries, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Indonesia. -The women in Islam are often viewed as a poor one, having to do whatever her husband, brother or father commands her to do. -This view is usually based on things picked up from what westerners see in the papers or on TV. -Not all Islamic countries follow the Qur’an and Ahadith as they say they are. (ex.In some of Islamic countries, it is acceptable for women to not cover their faces, women can drive, etc. -While female circumcision is not condoned by the Qur’an, it is still practiced in some predominantly Muslim areas in Africa. Egypt -The Women’s Rights Union started to have an impact on the ruling class of Egypt. -The Egyptian government signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) bill in 1981. -Gave women equal access to education, employment and work opportunities, equal pay for equal work and social security. Egyptian civil law, in accordance with Islamic law, gives women the right to possess, control and inherit property. -Unfortunately, women’s rights are still not being fully implemented, due to the restrictions of tradition, the government’s lack of interest in enforcing the laws and women’s own lack of awareness of their rights. -This lack of education has led to women being refused ownership of property and the right to divorce, despite legally being allowed to own property and divorce their husbands.Saudi Arabia -Women in Saudi Arabia are the victims of discrimination and human rights violations because of the gender bias in law, social mores and traditions. -They have gained some ground in terms of economic rights, but their civil and political rights are systematically violated. -Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive, leave the co untry without authorization from their husband or father, leave the house in unsuitable attire, hold high-ranking jobs or be involved in the government. It was not until 2000 that Saudi Arabian women were allowed their own ID cards; they had previously been registered on their husbands’ or fathers’ cards. -When investigations against women are carried out they are often conducted improperly and make use of unreliable evidence. Pakistan -Pakistan is a vast country with many laws in place to protect women’s rights. -Unfortunately, outside of the big cities, Pakistanis are generally ruled by tribal law rather than governmental law. -Most laws prohibiting the mistreatment of women are ignored. Not all girls are punished with death; some have acid splashed into their faces instead, scarring them for life and sometimes causing blindness. -Pakistani legislation defines both adultery and rape as ‘sexual intercourse without being validly married’ and does no t draw the distinction that one is forced while the other is not. -If a woman is raped and reports the crime or becomes pregnant, she has to prove that she was raped by either having the man’s admittance of the crime or four witnesses who saw the man force her into having sex. If not proven, she is charged with having an illicit sexual relationship with someone and is punished. -Pakistan does not have the personnel or equipment to do a proper forensic examination, so it comes down to witnesses and confession. -After one village or tribe has committed a perceived offence against another, the second village or tribe will try to gain ‘compensation’. This involves rape and mutilation of women or the murder of entire families. -Girls from one of the tribes can be forced under threat to marry men from the other tribe. The most common method of abusing a girl is making her feel that she is displeasing God by refusing to marry the man her parents wish her to. -Women in P akistan are generally only educated to a reasonable standard it from a wealthy family. -About 5% to 7% of women work, with low-paid jobs. Men and women are kept segregated in the workplace. Indonesia -Women in Indonesia are not as poorly treated as in other countries. -They have the right to own and sell property and livestock, to work, to choose to whom and when they get married and to divorce. -It is the women who propose marriage to a man, while men cannot propose at all.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Experts Urge Pneumonia Shots for Elderly essays

Experts Urge Pneumonia Shots for Elderly essays Experts Urge Pneumonia shots for Elderly Because of the recent findings that there is a big shortage of flu shots, senior citizens of the ages 65 and older, have been urged to take the Pneumonia shot. This shot, called Pneumovax, is a one time shot for senior citizens. The vaccine is covered by Medicare.Younger people with heart disease and lung disease, and weak immune systems are also encouraged to use it too. For younger people though, the shot ranges from $30 to $50. Also is a person is under 65 and is taking the shot, they will have to get a booster shot after five years of taking it. This shot not only protects you from contracting pneumonia, it also prevents deadly blood infections and meningitis. This shot is not a replacement shot for the flu, but people are highly encouraged to get both shots if possible. The drug Pneumovax is always overlooked by many people, because most of them are looking for the flu shot, which always seems to come up short of the vaccine, but with this vaccine, there is never a shortage. S tudies show that 175,000 Americans are hospitalized with pneumonia. Also this germ causes more than 50,000 blood infections and up to 6,000 cases of meningitis. Almost 6,000 of those people die. The government is hoping that 90 percent of the elderly actually get the shot by the year 2010, but as statistics show now only 63 percent of them are receiving the shot now. Now what health officials are deciding to do is to expand the number of people who should get the vaccine to 50 or older, considering the fact that at this age people are more prone to the risk of getting pneumococcal disease, which will begin to rise before a more dramatic surge in the 60s. I feel that it is important for many people to go and get these shots. Senior citizens should especially abide by these recommendations. The elderlys health isnt doing anything but getting worse as they are getting older, especially thos...

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

ArticleReview2 Essays - Summer Olympic Games, Free Essays

ArticleReview2 Essays - Summer Olympic Games, Free Essays Donald Metoyer Mrs. Gerber Hist, Org, Admin of Phys Ed 15 April 2019 Article Review 2 - (W)NBA wage gap A'ja Wilson, the first pick in the 2018 WNBA draft, will earn just over $52,00 in her rookie season. Compared to the first pick of the NBA draft, Deandre Ayton, she will be earning more than $6 million less. This shows a huge gap in pay between the WNBA and NBA, and it is a huge deal. In the article, Yes, the WNBA Wage Gap Is a Real Thing, Al Neal discusses some of the main reasons critics use to make the argument against the wage gap. But first he gives some the brief history on a wage gap in general, according the U.S. Census Bureau women make 80% of what males do annually. There are hard evidence to show wage gaps in everything but a lot of people just ignore it. The first excuse he attacks is the NBA bringing in much more money than the WNBA so it just makes sense the male athletes get paid so much more. Well, in crunching the numbers Neal found that the WNBA makes at least $51.5 million in revenue, but the maximum salary is just over $100k for a veteran player. Excuse #2 is people not wanting to invest in a young, unstable league that doesn't draw a crowd. In 2017, the WNBA had it's highest league total and average attendances. It goes past attendance too, I have noticed that WNBA is playing more WNBA games than ever before. Excuse #3 is "We're losing money" - team owners. WNBA teams have generally not been very profitable, but so have some teams in other leagues. But the difference is that in other leagues, the owners are willing to invest much more money to make these teams more profitable. And the fourth and final excuse he discusses is the WNBA hasn't been around long enough. The NBA is now in their 23rd season, and they are at the peak of their powers so far. Neal has two suggestions for how the WNBA and it's players should handle their wage gap. Suggestion #1 is raise the player revenue sharing to 50% like the NBA, which seems very reasonable. His second suggestion is just waiting for the inevitable strike that WNBA players will go on. Now, I would always say WNBA players can't be paid more because of how much money the league brings in. I was not educated on these facts, and was unaware. I do believe WNBA players should be paid more, the league definitely makes enough money to raise the maximum salary from $100,000. In doing so, the WNBA will protect their investment in players much better. As of now, many WNBA players go and play overseas because the wage is much higher over there. In the past and recently, I have seen many WNBA players talk about wanting equal pay as men's players. But that is just impossible, the excuses people make about "not enough revenue" or "not enough interest" are real in that interest. The NBA is a multi-billion dollar league and one of the fastest growing sports globally. The WNBA can't afford to pay players equally to the NBA but I do think they could be paid equally considering the percentage of salaries to the revenue brought in. If not, players must go on strike to try and get things to work out. The WNBA players plight of not receiving enough money is real, unfair, and shows the inequality of men and women sports in general.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Moodal Realism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Moodal Realism - Essay Example Epistemology is popularly held to be a conjunction of two fundamental words: "episteme", which means knowledge or information and "logos" means belief or a system of meanings. Thus it is a field of enquiry into the relevance and ingredients of knowledge and how do they affect us by their state and nature of existence. Hence, knowledge is seen as an after product of something. It is not a neutral state of being that was just there from the beginning. And when speaking of beginning, it also has a theological side to it, because it then analyzes the Christian belief of Origin too and how knowledge came into being. Therefore epistemology defines, analyzes, classifies and determines the very existence of knowledge. It is a very vast field but it is interminably connected with ideas and quests of metaphysics that questions the nature of our immediate outside or reality, and our inside or being. Thus if theory of knowledge questions the understanding of a mass of gathered data, then metaphy sics interprets that to understand the world we inhabit. Ontology situates the various categories into different areas of interpretation and locates it within the fixity of a single perceivable and understandable reality. But what if the reality is a plural idea Then what happens to the idea of the being Where do we locate the consciousness 3.0 Interrelation Between Modal Realism and Epistemology Counterfactuals come in between the assumptions of Modal Realism and critical problems of it concerning epistemology to whose scope it may. Thus counterfactualism opens up more possibilities and act against the teleological determinism that seem to haunt historical truths that seem to be chronologically and determinedly progressing towards an ultimate end and has a hidden purpose towards ultimate perfection or destruction. In theology that maybe an apocalypse or Judgement Day, while in science it may be the end of evolution and extinction and in physics it may be the end or the beginning of another universe altogether. Hence, how does the study of knowledge that asserts the value of knowledge treat Thus knowledge and truth are interrelated. Hence, Modal Realism becomes a claim that must either be a part of that truth, which is either established by reason or by empiricism and hence is a priori or posteriori in their essence and existence. Lewis makes a claim which allows us to at lea st think of many possible worlds where all things are parallely possible without any temper spatial relation to each other and thus if in one world President Kenny is assassinated, then in another he may have somehow been luckier and had a chance to be the president of America for another term. But how can the validity of such a bizarre notion (at least bizarre to the seeming establishment of epistemological understanding of know-how truth, belief and system of verified reality Thus the question of 'what if' is problematic not just within its essential dimension of being impossible (since a priori knowledge is another area

Friday, November 1, 2019

Media Study Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Media Study - Coursework Example The aim of having as much information on one page is to save on printing results. This results in properties been placed wherever space is available to accommodate them. In order to find a property the customer would essentially have to go through the whole brochure which is time consuming. Additionally, the customer will be overwhelmed with too many options. Furthermore, if houses are sold the customer is not aware until contact is made with the sales agent. New Communications Context – Online Publication The product will be digitised so that it can be uploaded online. The first page of the magazine will have different sections indicating the types of properties available - townhouses, two family houses, apartments, etc. These will be hyperlinked to the relevant pages. There will also be requirements for additional inputs to narrow users search. See New York Mag (n.d.). These will include inputs for lower and upper limit of price range and location. Here the customer will not have to waste time searching through irrelevant information. All relevant pages in the online brochure will be linked to the home page. The online edition will also allow the potential purchaser to view the property inside out by way of a virtual tour of the house. Additional information on the property will be accessed by way of a hyperlink. These include contact details.