EBay and Siebel Companies Essay Example for Free

EBay and Siebel Companies Essay EBay EBay is an American, online auction and shopping company in which people and businesses buys and sells goods and services worldwide over the internet. It is a well established company with localized websites in several other countries. The website was established in 1995 in San Jose, California by a French born Iranian computer programmer Pierre Omidyar (Patsuris, 2003). Anything can be sold at eBay as long as it is not an illegal. For example appliances, computers, furniture, equipments and vehicles are listed, bought and sold daily. Large international companies such as IBM sell their newest products and other services on eBay using competitive auctions and fixed-priced storefronts. The company has a well structured eBay express site that acts as a standard internet shopping site for consumers who own United States addresses. EBay generates revenue from a number of fees charged on its services based on various factors. Siebel Siebel systems Inc is a software company that deals in the design, development, marketing and support of customer relationship management (CRM) applicants. The company was founded by Thomas Siebel in 1993.  Initially it was known for its sales force automation products. Later, it expanded into the broader customer service applications that included customer relationship management (CRM) (Kerstetter, 2003). The company benefited from the explosive growth of the CRM market in the late 1990’s. By 1999, Siebel systems was the fastest growing company in United States. With growth of electronic commerce, Siebel formed strategic alliances and made several acquisitions to provide e-business solution for CRM and related areas. The two companies have for a long time experienced a massive growth. They have enjoyed prominence in the market since early 1990’s. However they seem to have taken totally different directions. Whereas eBay is still expanding incredibly, Siebel is on the verge of collapse. EBay has indeed developed superbly from its humble beginning. Currently, at least 30 million people buy and sell over 20 billion dollars in merchandise. Over 150, 000 entrepreneurs earn a living selling on eBay. The company provides a new way of doing business. EBay has an exceptional educational system that teaches people on how to sell on its website. It has a payment system that allows buyers to make electronic payments to sellers who can’t afford a merchant credit card account (Hof, 2003). The company has a different way of management in this era. Through the web, eBay citizens have a full time access to every activity performed in the company. The whole system is very transparent. Products and services are subjected to close scrutiny by customers before any business deal is undertaken. (Hof, 2003). The transparency involved in eBay business makes customers and vendors to be collaborators and colleagues. The company has a superb management that can be borrowed by many. It is based on cooperation and finesse not coercion and force. EBay executives work like civil servants rather than corporate managers (Hof, 2003). This enables the company to stay in touch with the needs of customers. This approach offers a lot of benefits to the company. Good management at eBay is shown by its financials. The company profits shot from 176 to 250 million dollars in the year 2002. Net sales from transaction fees on 15 million dollars in gross revenue hit 1. 2 billion dollars (Hof, 2003). This growth has made the company enjoy supremacy in the market. The company has done well to reduce problems of shipping goods, simplifying payments and cracking down crooks on the site. The company always listens to the needs of customers to improve its services. This is done through constant meetings with sellers and buyers asking for their opinions, complains, and suggestion to improve their services (Hof, 2003). As a result users feel part of the company and take necessary initiatives to expand the company’s economy. EBay has a well organized way ensuring security of its business. It has a special police unit that helps to crack down any fraud activities which can turn off prospective customers. It has a Trust and safety department staffed by several EBay employees all over the world (Hof, 2003). As businesses on EBay grow larger, the market is also expanding. As EBay is achieving financial supremacy Siebel takes an opposite route. Although the two companies started almost at the same level, Siebel currently faces a stiff competition from other companies. It has been on the down ward trend in recent years. The giant company of 1990’s has collapsed than its rivals. For example, revenue in 2002 lost by 22% to reach at 1. 5 million dollars. The stock price faced a massive drop by 94% to reach 8. dollars from its peak of 119 dollars in the year 2000 (Kerstetter, 2003). The company has lost touch with customers. Customers are extremely reluctant to buy company products. It has of recent past suffered from bad publicity, as customers show dissatisfaction. It has lost its strong ground to corporate application leader (SAP). The reputation of the company has been lost. In 2002 the company’s share of customer-management market flopped from 29% to 23% (Kerstetter, 2003). The company faces a managerial crisis. The management is continuously shuffled in pursue of the lost glory. Although the company has introduced new technologies, still the sales are growing weaker every year. However the leaders fail to acknowledge that a problem is looming in the company. As software market grows yearly, Siebel systems can no longer dominate it. The competition has grown so strong that Siebel might never recover. Research show that, the company revenue has been falling at an alarming rate. Many corporations that used to deal with the company currently prefer suppliers who offer broad range of integrated products like corporate planning and human resources (Kerstetter, 2003). The company has done little to decrease the growing number of dejected customers who have lost faith in the company. Many complain of having not met their target even after two years. However top managers still do not realize the problem. The company is trying to develop new technologies as a way of bouncing back to the market. However this is a big gamble. The competing companies like SAP have gained a lot of momentum and will still offer stiff challenge (Kerstetter, 2003). Siebel need to undertake major changes to enable it recover. However this is a journey that will need a total overhaul of the administration and a change in strategies. Unless an urgent step is taken, Siebel will collapse totally. The two companies EBay and Siebel differ a lot because of the path they follow. As EBay enjoys an upward surge to economic and financial superiority, Siebel is struggling a lot. The companies also not only differ in their fortunes but also in their administration setup. EBay has put all the necessary administrational techniques to ensure that the company competes favorably in the market. EBay tends to take into consideration the interests of the customers more than Siebel. The company still holds a lot of following from its customers who are increasing all over the world. The company has superb strategies that make them a force in today’s global market. Siebel need to go back to the drawing board if at all they hope to change the turn of events. The two companies offer a lot of lessons to business, management and all financial undertakings. It is evident that managerial skills are very vital in enabling companies to grow (Hof, 2003). Unless an exciting and creative management is in place, business undertakings can never achieve the best. The management ought to be enterprising and ready to undertake constant changes as a way of keeping the companies alive in the ever changing global market. It is also important to take note of the ever changing consumer needs. All business companies should direct their business towards the needs of consumers. Unless consumers have faith in the company, success will always be elusive. Many companies collapse due to failure to acknowledge the need to keep consumers always in mind. Companies should be ready to shift their short term objectives as consumer needs shift. Technology also plays a big role in the business industry. It is an important factor in any business undertaking. Successful companies embrace new and advanced technology to boast their output (Kerstetter, 2003). That is the only way that customers can stick to the company because of superior output. Companies should strive to embrace new technology to enable favorable competition in the market. It is also important for companies to undertake a thorough research always. Research enables them to read the market trends. In that way companies can be able to keep in touch with the latest market trends.  This can also help to shape the production channels according to the market trend. Companies and business enterprises ought to device means and ways of maintaining faith and trust of their customers. There should be a way of keeping customers hooked up to the company and opening it up for many others. Skillful management can enable companies achieve this. All successful businesses always keep these in mind. As long as a company has good management, respect and trust from customers, it will be easy to introduce new products in the market. EBay serves as an example to be followed by all business enterprises.

Importance of individual differences in understanding behaviour

Importance of individual differences in understanding behaviour If you go into any job no matter where you are in the world you will come across a multitude of different personalities and behaviours. An individuals personality doesnt just affect the individual, but everyone around them. Organizations consist of people who work together. Differences between individuals based on personality traits, may be an incentive for the development of creativity and a source of conflicts and other problems existing in the organization. Managers need to be able to measure personalities in order to make useful hiring decisions and they can do this by giving personality test and evaluating the results. This essay will cover information about the individual differences and behaviour at work. Also will give examples of method of measure of personalities and theories. Main Body The word personality derives from the Latin persona, meaning mask ( J.Maltby, L.Day and A.Macaskill, 2007). Psychological definition of personality, define personality in terms of characteristics, or the qualities typical of that individual (J.Maltby, L.Day and A.Macaskill, 2007). Psychologists are interested in what people are like, why they behave as they do and how they became that way.à Ã… ¸Ãƒâ€˜Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ Ã‚ ¾Ãƒâ€˜Ã‚ Ãƒ Ã‚ »Ãƒâ€˜Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€˜Ã‹â€ Ãƒ Ã‚ °Ãƒâ€˜Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€˜Ã…’ à Ã‚ Ãƒ Ã‚ ° à Ã‚ »Ãƒ Ã‚ °Ãƒâ€˜Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒ Ã‚ ¸Ãƒ Ã‚ ½Ãƒ Ã‚ ¸Ãƒâ€˜Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ Ã‚ µ There two main attributes of the individual differences: ability and personality (C.Cooper, 2002). Ability is one of the traits that distinguish one person from another. There are found in the speed, depth and strength of mastery of methods and techniques of some activities and are internal mental regulators (C.Cooper, 2002). Personality stable system of philosophical, psychological and behavioural symptoms, personal feelings, thinks, behaves, that characterize the person (C.Cooper, 2002). According to information above, people differ from each other is obvious. Each person is different from any other their individual psychological peculiarity. The identity of each person is endowed with a combination of traits and characteristics that form the personality a combination of psychological characteristics of people that make up its identity, its difference from other people. Individuality manifested in the character traits, temperament, habits, the prevailing interest, as cognitive processes, abilities, individual style of activity. Studying individual differences is especially important ability for leaders and managers, enabling them to understand and relate well to others as well as understand themselves. It helps effectively promote functions and well-being among employees, because how employees will participate at work will depend on the production, reputation, quality of company or organization where person is working. There are so many different tests which can help to predict or describe personality. For example, there are two popular methods ( J.Maltby, L.Day and A.Macaskill, 2007), which managers can use to help them to determine which type of individual they want to bring to the organization or how to effectively manage the people. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and The Big Five Personality Model, they used to measure personalities. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator is the most widely used in the world. MBTI is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. Individuals are given a 100 question personality test that asks them how they would react in certain situations. Based on the results from the test they are rated as an introvert or an extrovert, intuitive or sensing, feeling or thinking, and perceiving or judging person. Management would rate a quiet or shy person as an introvert and a person that is outgoing, assertive and sociable as an extrovert personality. And intuitive person often looks at the big picture and a sensing person has attention to detail and often likes routine and order. A feeling type of person relies on emotion and values and a thinking person uses simple reason to handle situations. A perceiving individual would be able to handle flexibility and be spontaneous, and a judging individual likes control and ofte n prefers things to be structured. The Big Five method is a research method in which it has five basic dimensions that measure human personality. Personality is an important determinant of how a person thinks, feels, and behaves; it is helpful to distinguish between different types of personality. This method uses five factors which are extraversion a person that is positive emotional and feel good and world around one, neuroticism a person that is negative emotional and view the world around negatively, agreeableness which is a person that is tendency to get along well with others, conscientiousness is a person who is responsible and organized, careful persevering, a person that has openness to experience is creative, original, has broad interest and sensitive. Depending on what the individual scores it will determine which type of personality that they have (S. Wood, M. West, 2010). If the psychological test was carefully chosen it can help organisation or practically manager to do their work easily. General personality measures may well produce some important information about candidates; however, without clear ideas about what to look for, based on a detailed job analysis and other sources (The Psychology of Personel Selection). Each person is unique and has different types of personality that may be suited to different kinds of organizational situations. Characterize human it is not enough to know his temperament and style of the nervous system. Even with a very good knowledge of someones cognitive ability and personality it would impossible, because most of factors depend on situations (The Psychology of Personel Selection). For this reason, it is not enough to spend a few tests to know as individual difference. Good manager should understand and learn how to deal with people and find right way to manage them (à Ã‚ ºÃƒ Ã‚ ½Ãƒ Ã‚ ¸Ãƒ Ã‚ ¶Ãƒ Ã‚ ºÃƒ Ã‚ ° à Ã‚ ¿Ãƒ Ã‚ ¾ OB) . Dispositional factors play a considerable role in our everyday life and there seems no reason to expect that they will not have some effects on work performance Teamwork has become an important part of the working culture and many businesses now look at teamwork skills when evaluating a person for employment. Therefore, it is important that students learn to function in a team environment so that they will have teamwork skill when they enter the workforce. As I dont have any work experience I want to discuss the individual differences according to my team working experience. Starting from, that I actually dont like working in group, because you depend on your group mates, you cannot work at yourself, all time you have to common concept. On other side, there are some positive sides of working together, you can find new friends and some time just make conversation with new people. In my experience I have a lot of team projects, some of them I was enjoyed, some of them were absolutely terrible, because group working is not easy as it looks in reality, you working not with friends or people with whom you prefer to work, but with people who was selected by someone, in my example it was undergraduate office. In group team all people have different inelegance, different character, some of them hardworking, some lazy. According to my group work experience, it easy to say that in this world everything is not as easy as it look like, because sometime you have to do work which you dont like but unfortunately you have to do it. First of all, in my group work were four people including me, all of us were different nationality. In our group were conflicts, difference of opinions, discrepancies, we make decisions, sometimes not quite correct, but we did them together, so its fault belong not to one person, its belong to whole group, because decisions in group make together, because the group is one and decisions should taken collectively. It was difficult to arrange time of our meeting because everyone has different time table But when we were learn about each as some information, it was easier to work In our project most of us participate, but we had one girl, she actually didnt attend most of our meetings, we e-mail to her, called, but she didnt replay on. So we had discussion in our group and decided that we going to gave her that 10% of final work. In fact it was really useful decision, because at the final presentation she was so active, tried to participate in all decision. But our group decided that her it going to be useful lesson for future. As well as, in our group was one person, who was responsible for finance, he was really intsiastics he all time In the conclusion, Importance Of Individual Differences In Understanding Behaviour Importance Of Individual Differences In Understanding Behaviour With globalisation becoming increasingly important, the corporate world is attracting a more diverse workforce and hence an increase in individual differences. An organisation is made up of people and individual differences are a key aspect in any organisation as each and every person brings along their own personal and unique differences. Much of psychology involves finding rules that describe how people behave in general. (Cooper, 2002) Understanding and triggering the best out of the individual differences is crucial for organisations to keep a competitive edge in todays fierce business environment. However managing individual differences is a complex issue as it relates to a number of human factors such as differences in attitudes, values, perceptions of the situation and self. There are diverse roles and research to support the findings of individual differences. However, for the purpose of this assignment I shall focus on how people respond differently to particular motivation interventions. Secondly this essay will also aim at examining individual differences in regards to how motivation affects performance. Studies have shown that motivation is a key influencer in job performance for individuals within their organisation. According to Stevens (2005) motivation is central to most human activities because it governs the choice of behaviour and attitudes. Motivation at work is complex because it relates to a number of interrelated human factors and organisational factors such as individual difference in work competence and organisational procedures, reward systems and communication framework. The higher motivation one has for the job, the more probable they will be to put more effort and work more efficiently. There are various ways that organisations adopt when ensuring that their employees are constantly motivated in their job. A decrease in motivation not only affects the employee and their productivity but the organisation as a whole, as the products will not be produced to the highest quality possible. The various ways that certain methods can be implemented in organisations to increa se the motivation are; increase in wages, bonuses, increase in holidays, days out, etc. However with reference to Taylors theory of motivation, Taylor claimed that money was what the worker wanted most (Locke, 1982). This cannot be proven to be a completely correct, with the research and evidence from individual differences, this contradicts what Taylor claims. Each individual has their own preferences and therefore not will be motivated in different ways Motivation enables one to have a different outlook on their performance of any sort, they will feel a different emotion when completing a task. A number of theories have been proposed to explain the impact of motivation on attitudes towards work and job performance. Reinforcement theory demonstrates that any behaviour that is rewarded would be repeated. This is known as positive reinforcement. An example of this in the workplace could be any monetary or non monetary reward, praise, approval, promotion or access to decision making process. However, it is necessary to consider the balance of the value of rewards to avoid potentially risky behaviour. For example, an individual will be motivated to achieve the greatest reward thus deliberate omission of complying with risk management practices. According to Skinner (1938) managers giving praise to others for working to minimise risk act as a strong motivator to comply with risk management practice and encourage involvement and responsibility. Moreover Social Learning theory contends that an individual are motivated not only by reward and punishment but by observing others receiv ing rewards and punishment. Individuals are motivated to imitate the behaviour of others if they observe they are being rewarded for their behaviour. Hence, managers can lead by example to gear the individual differences into the desired behaviour. However, given that each and every individual is unique, the managers must ensure not to promote discrimination while leading through example. Goal theory shows that people are money through reward systems and involvement in goal setting. Locke (1968) argues that employees are motivated to achieve specifically stated goals which are perceived as personally achievable. Hence understanding the individual differences is vital to help the organisation set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely (SMART) goals to create a win-win situation. There are diverse motivation methods in which todays organisations use. There is a growing concern that more and more employees tend to increase the number of turnover within a company thus In order to keep the turnover low, managers need to find new innovative ways to keep individuals within the organisation motivated. The reality is that we can only hypothesise that people are motivated by some particular thing by looking at their behaviour and seeing if there is anything different when the particular thing is involved. (Weightman, 1999). This theory helps to reinforce the fact that understanding motivation of individuals is key in a work environment, this can help determine and predict an individuals performance within the job role. 2. In the war for talent, managers have to keep an even closer eye on staff morale and motivation. (Personnel Today, January 2001) Individual differences are seen all around; in the way each of us reacts to certain situations is a perfect example of differences. There are many diverse ways in which personality can be measured at work. Conversely to measure ones personality can be hard to define. The Big Five Model is a well known technique which explains how different personality traits link together. The Big Five Model has five diverse stages which help to identify the personalities of people, these are; Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness/ Intellect. Extraversion- this goes more into depth about how comfortable one feels around others, and also takes into consideration how sociable and outgoing a person is versus a quiet and reserved person. The more a person is sociable and outgoing, and a person who seeks out status, the more extrovert we say a person is. Agreeableness- This measures the extent to which a person is warm and trusting and open to others, versus someone who is less open and unfriendly. This can also show how a quickly a person can adapt being put in diverse situations and how friendly and welcoming they are to meeting new people. Conscientiousness- This shows the extent to how a person is organised and dependable, versus a person who is unorganised and impulsive. This will show how a person thinks and their feeling towards how they carry out certain tasks. Emotional Stability- This shows the extent of how a person is calm and stable versus a person who is more neurotic and nervous. When placed in certain situations we all experience various feelings and this can help show ones first instinct and how they adapt when placed in certain situations. Openness/ Intellect- This shows the extent to which a person is imaginative and innovative with regards to their ideas and openness to new and diverse experiences versus a narrow-minded and unimaginative individual. To fully understand the various personalities of individuals we need to know and understand all of the five different factors within the big five model. Only then will we be able to understand which category one fits into and thus can determine the way in which they are likely to react when placed in certain situations. Creating a great place to work meant developing an environment where self-motivation could take root and flourish. (Personnel Today, January 2001) When it comes to motivation within peoples careers or jobs, then employees do not want to feel that they need many incentives of motivation in order to be productive, self-motivation from within can also generate high efficiency from an individual and higher overall productivity. The pleasure of being to complete something and wanting to do well and succeed is a perfect example of self-motivation. The want or need to complete something successfully from start to finish and obtain a feeling of satisfaction, is a perfect exam ple of self-motivation at its best. LOOK IN BOOK AND ADD THE DIAGRAM AND TALK ABOUT THE MOTIVATORS FROM BOOK, AND LINK IN WITH INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. Reflective Report-From a personality report created from questionnaires which I filled out with regards to my personality. There were several questions which responded to thirteen different categories of characteristics these are; Sociability, Leadership, Optimism, Cooperation, Compassion, Sensitivity, Stability, Calmness, Order, Industry, Intellect, Culture, and Achievement. Each of these characteristics helps determine an individuals personal traits and behaviour. Both I and a peer completed the questionnaire which would help to outline individual differences in action, and show whether the way I perceive myself would be the same as the way in which my peer perceived my characteristics to be. The results in some cases show that the way in which I have seen myself, can in many cases be completely different or sometimes similar to the way in which others perceive myself. Relevant research helps to support the individual differences theory and helps one to understand how they are perceived by others and the difference in how a person might perceive them to be. Whether introvert or extrovert, all of these traits and personalities are what makes us different, and the way in which we see ourselves on a day-to-day basis can be seen completely different by someone who sees us on a day-to-day basis. Another example of how personality theories have supported certain situations that I have been placed under is doing group assignments at University. I was placed within a group of individuals that I had never previously met. After a few weeks of starting to understand one another, we all felt that we had similar qualities and personalities. Conversely weeks gone by, I started to notic e that people that I originally thought had the same personality in some certain aspects to myself, turned out to be completely different. For example, everyone in the first instance was very agreeable, which in most cases is always true, because we were all aware that this was group work and we had to work together in order for this to be completed. However after meeting often with the group, I noticed people were a lot more extroverts with their feelings, and were not afraid to let their feelings be shown, even if this was negative. In addition to this after several meetings after people who I perceived to be like-minded would be completely opposite to what I thought earlier for example; they would turn up to meetings late or not at all, whereas I am a punctual person and thought they were too from initial meetings, they were very laid-back in approach to their work, and took their time whereas in the beginning showed enthusiasm in wanting to get the work complete. In addition to this, from my personality report, it has been proven that the way in which I perceive myself to be a much organised, conscientious type of person, my traits have been perceived by others to be the same, and that others agree to an extent that I am a very conscientious person. Within the group, there were many who at first gave the impression of being very conscientious however as time went on, I found that they were quite the opposite and more impulsive. Working in a group with such diverse and in most cases opposite personalities to my own was at first daunting and quite a difficult task to ensure each person can remain motivated and get the work completed, however being able to adapt to situations proved to be a strong trait of mine, enabling me to get my message across to all people, in a positive way. Another previous experience of mine showed that I perceive myself to be a good leader in one way or another in being able to apply my thoughts across to my peers and when dealing w ith group work, I am an organised person which helps in being a good leader. From the feedback of the personality report, a friend perceived me in the same way, and thought likewise, as well as this, being in a group with students whom I had never previously met, after receiving a high result in the work, feedback came unknowingly from peers claiming they were glad I was the leader and I made an excellent leaderall credit goes to you. Which helps to show evidence that in some cases we can see ourselves and know most of what our personality is like and what others may also perceive however in many cases many people can get the wrong message about one another. The reflective report helps to support my theory of personality traits within a working environment. My experiences within working at university in group assignments and the peer profile helps to show that personality is key when understanding individuals. Personality helps to determine the outcome of an individual and what is expected of them. Recommendation- There are diverse ways in which work processes can be improved in the future, an example of this is; for managers to schedule regular one-to-one basis meetings, where employees will be able to express their concerns if they have any. On one hand, some employees prefer interaction and want to feel like they have a voice within the company. If a manager is able to effectively understand the employees needs and provide new innovative ways of implementing new systems so that can help employees to feel more motivated, they will thus achieve a better response of motivation. There are individuals who differ, which shows a clear demonstration of individual differences. Thus, some individuals will prefer to have clear guidance and a supervisor or manger to conduct regular meetings, however some may not prefer this technique. Therefore, it is the duty of the manager to get the balance right and ensure that they are able to respond to employees wants and needs. As mentioned abov e, there are various techniques of motivation interventions which can all contribute to the overall performance of an individual. By implementing these motivation factors and putting them into practice in a working environment such as; doing a group project at work, using different techniques which can be creative and not tedious can increase motivation, productivity and the overall efficiency. The downfall of having so many motivation interventions is that due to individual differences within a group, it may be difficult to know which method is the best to pursue. This can have an adverse and opposite effect leaving some members feeling rather de-motivated and generally un-interested, which creates a further problem of trying to re-motivate and create responsiveness in the group. Give advantages and disadvantages to the recommendation when being introduced in an organisation. Bibliography Fincham R, Rhodes P, (2005) Principles of Organizational Behaviour, New York: Oxford University press Inc. Furnham, A. (1992) Personality at Work: The role of individual differences in the workplace. London: Routledge Mazerolle, D, M. James, R, L. (2002) Personality in Work Organizations, London: Sage Publications Inc. Schermerhorn R. J. Jr, Hunt. G. J, Osborn. N. R (1991) Managing Organizational Behaviour, Ohio University: John Wiley Sons, Inc.

Professional and Therapeutic Communication Reflection

Professional and Therapeutic Communication Reflection Willian Roger Dullius Nurses have determined the communication and interaction for nursing since Florence Nightingale in the 19th century. The method to provide the communication depends on the place where it is applied having a focus to interact and satisfy the client’s needs, once that communication is the basis of health promotion and prevention (Fleischer, Berg, Zimmermann, WÃ ¼ste, Behrens, 2009). Throughout this paper, I will answer the questions one and two, which are related to the class NUSC 1P10. Reflection can be defined in numerous ways. Firstly, it can be defined as an active process, which has different aspects of interpretation. Secondly, it can be an action to reflecting or a stage of being reflected. Thirdly, it can be defined as thoughts about something where require careful considerations. Finally, reflection can be defined as a process of observation in a specific action. All of these definitions reflect to a cognition’s method in a specific circumstance related to the person (OBrien, 2014). As a purpose of reflection in the context of teaching and learning, the reflection’s process provides a positive outlook on the material, which has been studied and analyzed. The moment of reflection also provides an opportunity for the student to look at what they have done in class. Thinking about what, why, when, where, how to do something such as assignment is a way to develop the critical thinking, which is an essential for the academic student. As a result, the reflection is responsible to develop the self-observation and self-evaluation in order to improve the academic skills as well as personal skills. Gardner (1986) also argues that the reflection is a fundamental part of the learning process for everyone, which is daily developed. The reflection provided an important contribution to my learning in the class. When we did reflections through this course in lectures or in class lab, I could think about my mistakes and after to analyzing why I did them, I corrected them. For example, when I was doing my weekly lab reflection reviewing my working, I could improve my paper. Fixing them, it contributed to change the way how I respond those activities considering my expectations. In another example, during the lab activity, I had numerous challenges. One of them is that I was looking for the patient considering his disease process. However, I should be looking for whole client’s history instead of just the disease process. After reflection about my practice, I could reflect more broadly in respect of the client’s history (looking more for social determinants than process of disease). I also made mistakes related to questions and language barriers, so reviewing these challenges aspects I could understand what was necessary to change and how to perform and provide my communication skills (see Appendix A). Still, reflecting on my lab activities, I could see a language difference between the first to last day (see Appendix B). It is explicit that I had an improvement because of in the beginning the semester, some activities which required interaction in group (talking and listening), were developed with low successful expectance; however, working to improve and reviewing words to pronounce and adding in the correct method did a change in a variety of aspects in my perspective of class’s interaction. Nevertheless, considering my background in communication skill, I have begun to look at a broad perspective of interaction among client and health professionals as well as with general people. In this course, a friend had a problem. Analyzing, doing a summary and paraphrasing, using the reflection’s process, I could help him. Instead of I give my opinion or solution to his problem, I motivated him to reflect his own history under the problem. Thus, he could find by himself how to cope that problem. After that, I gave him some feedback (evaluation) about that situation. In fact, looking my methodology and evaluating this process, I could understand and see in practice how the reflection’s process is helpful and it is a way that improves the communication skill. In relation to the question two, my communication skills have changed over this term because during this term I could review my thoughts and understand that communication is essential my daily activities with emphasis in my professional career. According to Burke, Boal, Mitchell (2005), the communication is present not only in terms of professional and patient, but it is an essential on health team. It needs to be present among health professionals providing better care for their clients. For example, when we are discussing health promotion and prevention, the communication is, basically, the basis to develop activities. Hence, the communication is a skill that needs to be built considering their environment. In this process, I could note improvements in my communication skill such as in the client’s response where I, as a nurse, need to provide concise responses related to the conversation, so it will initiate affective responses to me, as a nurse, and for the client, who needs to be cared (see Appendix C). In addition, people need to consider the cultural aspects of each other during the communication, which means, it is necessary to relativize and not to generalize in the communication process. In this course, I could experience in our lab and lectures activities how students perceive health considering the client’s background, which enabled us to better assess those clients. Nonverbal communication is another skill that I have improved throughout this course. In the past, I did not give importance to client’s gestures during my assessment. However, in this course I could see how it is important. Sometimes, the body of the client does agree with his speaking and as a nurse I might get this minor detail and try to understand the real situation that the patient is involved. Another skill that I learned refer to SOLER. Using the SOLER’s technique, I could improve my communication with the patient because it provides more confidence; however, I know that it requires practice. To learn about SOLER was an amazing because in my country, Brazil, I have never learned about it. Thus, as it was new for me, I need to improve more. Although it is not taught in my course, I understand that is extremely important, so I will use in my clinical practice and to share this information with my professors in Brazil. Likewise, my listen skill has also improved during our course. Now, I incentive the client talks as much as possible. I stay in silence to just hear him/her speech. As a result, I can better analyze and evaluate those aspects and conditions related to the client, providing a better assessment. Thus, I can identify how I have changed my listening in order to better assess the client during the interview. In the past, I listened with superficial; however, now I have developed a deep and adequate time throughout my nursing assessments. Another skill that I have improved is the paraphrasing, which was not accurate in my academic skill because it is not common in my native language. In fact, I am aware that it is hard for me to paraphrase well, so I have introduced in my daily communication to practice and improve it as much as possible. In brief, throughout this course, I could notice improvements in my communication skills, which were done through the reflection’s process after those activities developed during the course. Thus, combining theory and practical aspects must provide better understand and improvement in the student’s skills. Communication is an essential skill in the human beings, and it is raised with daily activities and reflections. References Burke, M., Boal, J., Mitchell, R. (2005). Communication for better care: improving nurse-physician communication. Education For Primary Care, 16(2), 217. Fleischer, S., Berg, A., Zimmermann, M., WÃ ¼ste, K., Behrens, J. (2009). Nurse-patient interaction and communication: A systematic literature review. Journal Of Public Health (09431853), 17(5), 339. doi:10.1007/s10389-008-0238-1 Gardner, R. (1986).The psychotherapeutic techniques of Richard A. Gardner. Cresskill, N.J.: Creative Therapeutics. OBrien, R. (2014). Expressions of hope in paediatric intensive care: a reflection on their meaning. Nursing In Critical Care, 19(6), 316-321. doi:10.1111/nicc.12069 Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C

Brave New World :: essays research papers

Today there are strong debates and questions about the extraordinary breakthroughs in science such as cloning, in communications through the Internet with its never ending pool of knowledge, and the increasing level of immersion in entertainment. People facing the 21st century are trying to determine whether these new realities of life will enhance it and bring life as they know it to a great unprecedented level, or if these new products will contribute and perhaps even cause the destruction of society and life. To many cloning, censoring, and total immersion entertainment are new, but to those who have read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the topics are reminiscent of the horror that is found in Huxley's fictional utopian world where the dehumanizing of man is achieved in the interests of "Community, Identity, Stability," the world state's motto. The novel Brave New World shows that in order for a utopian society to achieve a state of stability, a loss of individuality, and the undoing of Mother Nature must occur. Successfully engineering these conditions produces a world where people are finally living "happily ever after," but at a great cost. The time of Brave New World is in the future on the planet earth and it is, a pessimistic accounting of the shape a scientifically planned community would take, of its sterility and human emptiness. Ten controllers of the world states determine all aspects of society. Children are born in state hatcheries where according to what social class they will be, they are given or denied certain elements that are critical to proper development. The citizens are happy and content with their simple lives as it is shown in the novel when it is stated, "We don't want to change. Every change is a menace to stability," therein lies the problem. The key ingredient to stability that the novel implies is that individuality must be absent. The government in Brave New World understands that fact and in the worlds of one of the ten controllers of the world states, "[there is] no civilization without social stability. No social stability without individual stability." The need for stability creates a government which believes that stability can be achieved if people think and look the same. Stability, in effect, demands robots, not people. The main element of what makes a person human and unique are the emotions that inhabit their minds, which they can control to some degree.

Black & Decker Essay -- essays research papers

Question 1: B&D leads in two product segments, but trails in the third. Why? Answer: It seems from the case that there are several reasons why B&D leads in Professional-Industrial and Consumer product segments, but trails in the Professional-Tradesmen segment. It is also clear from the tests performed by Black & Decker that their products were at comparable, or even better at some cases, quality. Branded as Home Tools: It appears that professional-tradesmen did not want to use the same tools that housewives used at homes (Black & Decker). Tradesmen viewed Black & Decker tools more for home use than being subjected to demands of the job site. This was a perception issue that was hurting Black & Decker big way. Distribution Channel: It is also evident from the data (Exhibit 2) that Black & Decker lacked in capitalizing one of the most profitable distribution channels i.e. Membership Club. On the other hand, Makita who distributed its product through membership clubs, in which Black & Decker did not take part in, proved to be very successful channel (85%) for Makita. Color: I believe that the unremarkable grey color did not help Black & Decker. The color was another factor that was strongly linked to the Black & Decker’s image. The color factor was very clearly demonstrated by lab tests and also by the comments from professional-tradesmen. Multiple Segments: Black & Decker was involved with three different segments Professional-Industrial, Professional-Tradesmen, and Consumer. On the other hand, Makita (who entered the market in 1978) focused on only one segment of the market while B&D focused on three. Question 2: Describe the salient psychological features of the tradesman’s buying behavior (values & need states). Answer: This is Tradesmen seem to believe that Black & Decker’s brand is for Consumer use only. They are well aware of the brand, but regard it as the brand that is more suitable for the tools used at home. As Black & Decker holds about 45% of the consumer market, it has very good brand recognition. In a tradesmen’s mind the association of Black & Decker with consumer segment is so high that they feel that Black & Decker is for home use only and it is not rugged enough to be used professionally. Need: Strong tools, that can be used professionally Value: They ne... ...disassociation from Black & Decker brand  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Introduction of a Black & Decker’s one of the stable brands (DeWalt) that has no negative association  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  DeWalt got 70 % awareness rating. This in turn means that Black & Decker will not have to spend money to establish a new brand  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  DeWalt also achieved an â€Å"One of the best† agreement percentage of 63%  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Also scored 58% on the purchase interest by tradesmen in â€Å"DaWalt-Serviced and Distributed by Black & Decker’ Cons:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It seems that every one at Black & Decker takes a great pride in the #7 â€Å"brand Power† position of the Black & Decker name. It will be a challenge to sell the option at Black & Decker.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Linkage of aggressive objectives of doubling the Black & Decker’s Professional-Tradesmen segment share from 9% to about 20% I strongly suggest that Joseph Galli should drop the Black and Decker name from the Professional-Tradesmen segment, sell the products in this category under the DeWalt brand and build more brand awareness for DeWalt

Unfair Drug Laws in America Essay -- Argumentative Drugs Marijuana Ess

The existing drug laws are very inefficient. This paper will focus on the people and the specific elements that are affected by the inefficiency of the drug laws. When looking at the drug laws at a glance a person might be lead to think that they would be very effective and they seem reasonable. While drug laws in themselves are necessarily wrong, some of the discrepancies in the laws make them unfair and take from the category of handing down justice and puts them into the category of cruel and unusual. First there will be an analysis of prohibition throughout American history, then an analysis of what the actual crimes and punishments are for a few of the drugs in the United States. Next there will be a look into who is affected by the laws and how. Finally, this paper will try to provide some kinds of solutions to the problems that are being caused with the drug laws. First the definition of a drug is any substance that has an effect on the mind and body except food, and the definition of a crime is an act or omission that is punishable or goes against a law. When crime is looked at in this sense it can be said that government is the cause of all crime because every crime that is committed has to go against a law that is passed by the government. In looking at the problems with the drug laws, a history of where the drug laws come from is necessary. In the first 140 years of the United States all drugs were legal. This means that if a person wanted to do any drug at any time that the person could do it without having to worry about any penalties. The actual first federal law that was passed was the Pure Food and Drug act of 1906. This law was did not even put a restriction on the drugs that were available. This ... ...s to be some other way to deal with the problem of drugs so why not try something new? There can be no guarantees that the something new will be the right thing but there has to be something that can be done that will affect the drug situation in a more positive way. Works Cited (http://www.dpft.org/history.html). (http://www.famm.org/si_crack_powder_sentencing_fact_sheet.htm) (http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/usa/Rcedrg00-03.htm http://dpft.org/alcohol.htm). http://www.cedro-uva.org/lib/reinarman.dutch.html). http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/factsht/heroin/). http://www.dpft.org/history.html#back04). http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=588601). http://www.phrusa.org/research/rockefeller_laws/tenmyths.html). (http://www.horizonmag.com/6/racial-profiling.asp http://www.commondreams.org/views/112600-105.htm).

Thesis Researched by Rose

Rose's thesis states that â€Å"Students will float to the mark you set. † † Vocational education has aimed at increasing the economic opportunities of students who do not do well in our schools. Some serious programs succeed in doing that, and through exceptional teachers – like Mr. Gross in Horace's Compromise – students learn to develop hypotheses and trouble shoot, reason through a problem, and communicate effectively – the true job skills. The vocational track, however, is most often a place for those who are just not making it, a dumping ground for the disaffected.† Rose attempts to persuade his readers by showing how dysfunctional the vocational students are and how mediocre or unchallenging their studies are. He also persuades the readers by exemplifying the instructor's poor attempts to care about the quality of learning the vocational education students are receiving. His argument is that the instructors are not inventive in their teaching methods and do not work hard at education through use of their imaginations. â€Å"The teachers have no idea of how to engage the imaginations of kids who were at the bottom of the pond.† I agree with Rose's point stating that † You're defined by your school as â€Å"slow†; you're placed in a curriculum that isn't designed to liberate you but to occupy you, or, if you're lucky, train you, though the training is for work the society does not esteem.† This seems to be the norm at all schools. But, I think at all levels, be it high school or college, the instructors teaching these types of programs should be trained to use more imaginative methods of teaching the vocational level students. Obviously, these students each learn at a different pace, but their minds still need to be challenged. They should receive education that stimulates their minds so they do not lose interest. The vocational education system is used as simply as Rose put it, as a â€Å"dumping ground for the disaffected.† I also understand the point Rose made referring to the fact that if a student is trained in a mediocre way he will do nothing but turn into a mediocre student. Resulting in boredom, indifference, tuning out, ignorance, and finally a lack of job skills society deems necessary. I think Rose was correct in the comment â€Å"Champion the average.† Although that is assuming that every vocational student has the courage to rely on his/her own good sense and put the fear behind him or her. Only most of them lack the courage or self-esteem to stand up for themselves, be it only in their own mind. Moreover, many would not take themselves seriously if they did so.