The Social Significance of Advertising Essay Sample free essay sample

Potter ( 1954 ) . points out that advertisement non merely has economical effects but can besides determine peoples’ values: â€Å"The most of import effects of this powerful establishment are non upon economic sciences of our distribution system ; but they are upon the values of our society. If the economic consequence is to do the buyer like what he buys. the societal consequence. in a parallel broader sense. is to do the person like what he gets†¦Ã¢â‚¬  ( Berger. 2000. p. 27 ) This statement emphasises that the impact of advertisement media does puts force per unit area non merely on consumers to buy trade goods. but the impact of these exposures are much far more brooding on such consumers’ general consciousness. individualities. belief systems. and societies and civilization in general. Reinforcing Potter’s work. advertisement media has been criticised for â€Å"unintentionally transfusing a sense of insufficiency upon women’s self concept† . ( Martin. 2005. p. 391 ) and many argue that the mass media play a portion in reenforcing a preoccupation with physical attraction ( see both Poltarnees ( 1994 ) and Reed. We will write a custom essay sample on The Social Significance of Advertising Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page et Al. ( 2004 ) ) . Pringle ( 2004. p. 53 ) adds that the advertisement industry creates idealized stereotypes that in some manner forces adult females to populate up to. and makes adult females experience dissatisfied with the manner they are and has gone every bit far as stating that. â€Å"much of human behavior. and specifically buying. can be attributed to the desire to better presentation and desirability† . In support of this. Wan ( 2003 ) believes that females begin to tie in their ego worth with their ego perceived attraction. and visual aspect has become an of import constituent of their individuality. Past research has shown that when participants are exposed to images of attractive theoretical accounts they tend to hit their self-esteem lower than if exposed to images of less attractive theoretical accounts ( Wan. 2003 ) . These surveies suggest that media exposure of glamourous people may reenforce negative self-pride. Seno ( 2005 ) considers that adult females are progressively subjected to coerce to look good groomed and maintain certain degrees of visual aspect and this force per unit area is filtered through the media. However Black ( 2004 ) argues that although media can hold some influence. self-pride is non every bit superficial as visual aspect and involves features such as self belief. ego worth. and self assurance. However. there are many other factors that can lend to negative self-esteem. such as non acquiring ‘that promotion’ or ‘rejection from a crush’ ( Reed. et Al. . 2004 ) . Black ( 2004 ) does non disregard the influence of media influences wholly. but states that force per unit areas can come elsewhere. from societal milieus and can be internal ; for illustration ‘wanting’ to make an individuality that happens to be associated with being attractive. Martin ( 2005 ) . here found that pretty theoretical accounts were perceived to be surpassing. popular. merriment. happy. particular and pleasant ; whereas by contrast unattractive theoretical accounts were perceived as being ; awful. chilling. natural state. non happy and engaged in smoke and imbibing. The deduction here is that people would wish to be perceived with features associated with that of the pretty theoretical accounts. as opposed to the unattractive theoretical accounts. Cosmetic merchand ises can assist better and heighten one’s visual aspect and hence assistance in the creative activity of individuality. every bit good as addition ego regard and societal credence ( Reed. et Al. . 2004 ) . This in bend may be helping the growing of the decorative industry and advertisement simply shows consumers what merchandises are available to them. Langmeyer ( 1994. p. 27 ) says that â€Å"Beauty is an effectual sell† ; a point reinforced in the really rubric of Vinikas’ ( 1992 ) work: â€Å"Soft Soap. Hard Sell† . However. although many advertisement runs use glamor to back merchandises. it may be argued that it is non merely glamour that sells. Dive Cosmetics launched a run in 2005 advancing its merchandise scope by really utilizing alleged ‘real women’ as opposed to glamourous theoretical accounts. The adult females used in their run had their organic structures exposed on Television commercials. hoardings and magazines. and their frock sizes ranged from UK frock size 14 onwards. This run proved to be a success with the message being sent to consumers that â€Å"All tegument is beautiful† when attractively moisturised ( Clegg. 2005 ) . The success of this run may hold been due to the fact that ordinary adult females were able to place with the ‘real women’ in the run. who appeared to be confident with their organic structure sizes and forms. This run besides gave adult females the chance to inherit feelings of self credence and â€Å"love the tegument you’re in† ( Clegg. 2005 ) .

Learn About Edwin Land, Inventor of the Polaroid Camera

Learn About Edwin Land, Inventor of the Polaroid Camera Before the rise of smartphones with digital cameras  and photo-sharing sites like Instagram,  Edwin Land’s Polaroid camera was the closest thing the world had to instant photography. The Launch of Instant Photography Edwin Land (May 7, 1909–March 1, 1991) was an American inventor, physicist, and avid photograph collector who co-founded the Polaroid Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1937. He is known for inventing a one-step process for developing and printing photographs that revolutionized photography. The Harvard-educated scientist got his groundbreaking idea in 1943 when his young daughter asked why the family camera couldn’t produce a picture immediately. Land returned to his lab inspired by her question and came up with his answer: the Polaroid Instant camera that allowed a photographer to remove a developing print with an image that was ready in about 60 seconds. The first Polaroid camera, the Land Camera, was sold to the public in November 1948. It was an immediate (or should we say instant) hit, providing both novelty and instant gratification. While the resolution of the photos didn’t quite match that of traditional photographs, professional photographers adopted it as a tool for taking test photos as they set up their shots. In the 1960s, Edwin Land’s instant cameras got a more streamlined look when he collaborated with industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss on The Automatic 100 Land Camera and also on the Polaroid Swinger, a black and white model that was designed and priced at under $20 to appeal to average consumers. An intense, passionate researcher who amassed more than 500 patents while at Polaroid, Land’s work was not limited to the camera. Over the years, he became an expert on light polarization technology, which had applications for sunglasses.  He worked on night-vision goggles for the military during World War II and developed a stereoscopic viewing system called the Vectograph that could help detect enemies whether or not they were wearing camouflage. He also participated in the development of the U-2 spy plane. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and the W.O. Baker Award of the Security Affairs Support Association in 1988. Polaroid’s Patents Are Challenged On October 11, 1985, the Polaroid Corporation won a five-year patent infringement battle against Kodak Corporation, one of the country’s largest patent lawsuits involving photography. The U.S. District Court of Massachusetts found that Polaroid’s patents were valid and infringed. As a result, Kodak was forced to pull out of the instant camera market. In a good faith effort, the company began offering compensation to their customers who owned their cameras but wouldn’t be able to purchase a suitable film for them. New Technology Threatens Polaroid With the rise of digital photography at the start of the 21st century, the fate of the Polaroid camera seemed grim. In 2008, the company announced it would stop making its patented film. However, the Polaroid instant camera remains viable thanks to Florian Kaps, Andrà © Bosman, and Marwan Saba, the founders of The Impossible Project, which raised funds to help create monochromatic and color film for use with Polaroid instant cameras. Land’s Death On March 1, 1991, at the age of 81, Edwin Land died from an undisclosed illness. He had been ill for a couple of years, spending his last few weeks at an undisclosed hospital in his hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Information about the actual cause of his death was never readily available per his family’s wishes, but his gravesite and tombstone can be found in Cambridge at the Mount Auburn Cemetery, a National Historic Landmark and the resting place of many historically significant citizens of the Boston area.

An Overview Of Political Stability In Pakistan Politics Essay

An Overview Of Political Stability In Pakistan Politics Essay An Overview of Political Factors, Political Institutions norms and conventions which are informal constraints; and enforcement characteristics. The competency of the bureaucracy, business government relations, the political order present, the type of party structure and the qualities of the political leadership are all important political institutions which further instigate other political factors affecting the type of order maintained within the country. The authenticity and credibility of political institutions is therefore at the helm of what the power play within the country is and thus predicting the future of the state. Given the significance of political stability it is only fair that the variable is defined accurately and further investigated. A number of political factors are correlated with political stability, but which factors are responsible for this causation. Macroeconomic policies, estranged international relations and the inefficient use of natural resources are a ll important aspects that may affect the variable concerned. Political freedom, political activism and political confidence are factors that measure the public reaction to the various political institutions and decisions implemented. The authenticity and credibility of political institutions is at the helm of what the power play within the country is. These institutions are built through the political factors and in turn determine the level of political stability within the country. This paper will attempt to unfold the relationship between variables such as judicial autonomy, the level of corruption and the amount of foreign aid being granted on Pakistan’s domestic political stability. An empirical approach using both past literature and new primary research will be utilized in concluding the causal effects.

Analyses of the Articles about Animal Ethics Research Paper

Analyses of the Articles about Animal Ethics - Research Paper Example Animals do not have rights since they do not have moral reasoning and moral judgment. Use of animal as research subjects in medical research has been condemned widely criticized and condemned on two grounds: that it wrongly violates the animal rights and that it wrongly imposes much avoidable suffering on sentient creatures. According to Cohen (575), these arguments are not valid the first one relies on an understanding of rights which is mistaken, and the second is based on calculations of sequences which is mistaken. A right is a claim that can be exercised by one party against another (Cohen 576). The target of the right claim can be a human being, community or even the entire humankind but not to animals. For, any genuine right to be fully comprehended the person who holds the claim against the other party must be known and to what it is a right. Rights arise, according to Cohen (576), and they can be â€Å"intelligently defended, only among beings†¦.† Only human beings can make claims and rights beings claims, animals do not have rights since they can not make any moral claim against any person or group. The attributes of human beings from which, moral capability arises, have been discussed by philosophers at all times; ancient and modern, the inner consciousness of a free will. Animals do not have the ability to reason using a free will, and this denies the animals rights. Human beings defend other human beings lives and animals’ by treating them, and this can only be done through the use of animals in research. According to Cohen (579), â€Å"every disease eliminated, every vaccine developed†¦virtually every modern medical therapy is due†¦ to experimentation using animals.† For human and animal welfare to be enhanced, research has to be done using the animals. The article the case for the use of animals in biomedical research, by Carl Cohen, looks at the importance of animals in biomedical research to both animals  and humans, as well. This paper fully supports Cohen in his argument about animals not having rights, his definition of rights.  

Stress and Time Management in Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Stress and Time Management in Nursing - Essay Example The conflicts that nurses usually face involve the treatment of a patient and taking a realistic view on the patient’s condition, and at the same time the necessity for the nurse to be optimistic and supportive towards the patient. Addressing stress levels among nurses is essential as reports show that this stress also affects several other aspects of nurses’ lives. According to a survey that was carried out by the American Nurses Association, approximately seventy percent of all nurses experience either acute or chronic implications of stress (Purcell et al., 2011). There are several solutions that have been suggested in addressing the stress problem. As mentioned above, one of the main reasons of stress is work overload, and this can be improved by implementation of the appropriate time management techniques. This paper will assess the level of stress among nurse and how time management can be utilized to address this issue. Time management in the nursing profession should be taught from student level, which will enable the students to be prepared for their professional lives. A study was carried out on a group of Iranian nursing students on the different approaches they take in their time management (Mirzaei et al., 2012). The assessment was carried out by data collection which was done through partially structured interviews and indicated that nurses utilize unidirectional time management approaches. The study showed that even at student level nurses allocated the majority of their time to their academics and had very little time for other activities. The indications in the study show that the nursing students should also be given time to partake in extracurricular activities to reduce the levels of stress (Mirzaei et al., 2012). At a professional level time management is essential as nurses have more responsibilities in their lives apart from jobs. Stress arises when there is a misbalance in the professional and personal life of the nurse as the

Coca-Cola Versus Pepsi-Cola Essay Example for Free

Coca-Cola Versus Pepsi-Cola Essay Summary In the late 1800s, American pharmacists started mixing fruit syrups and carbonated soda water, causing a new kind of beverages known as soda drinks. The most famous brands that started in the business are Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, and Dr. Pepper; but the big long-lasting rivalry is until today between Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola. In 1886, a pharmacist named Dr. John Pemberton made the formula of Coca-Cola and the drink was sold in at the counter of Jacob’s Pharmacy as a refreshing drink. Pemberton was a part owner of the pharmacy after he left, eventually, Asa Candler became the sole owner and had the rights to the drink. Candler sold the Coca-Cola syrup to pharmacies and started a big advertising campaign which gave Candler a strong sales force. In 1899 Candler granted the first bottling franchise, which eventually grew rapidly. Ernest Woodruff bought Coca-Cola in 1919 for 25$ million, Woodruff and his son worked on making Coke a convenient product that’s available everywhere. Woodruff made a great decision at the time of the beginning of World War II; he stated that every man wearing a uniform should get a Coca-Cola bottle for only 5 cents whatever it costs. This decision made Coke have a strong market-share in Asian and European countries; in the late 1950’s, Coca-Cola advertised as â€Å"Americans Preferred Taste†. Woodruff was influential in Coke’s strategic decisions until 1982. A pharmacist named Caleb Bradham invented the formula of Pepsi-Cola in 1893 in New Bern, South Carolina in 1893. Pepsi followed a similar path as Coke in the expansion, using franchisers to spread their beverage. The company faced bankruptcy many times due to the strong advantage that Coke had over Pepsi-Cola and the weak competition between the two companies at that time. In the period following WWII, Coke outsold Pepsi by a 10 to 1 ratio per unit; in that period many soft-drink producers started entering the market with a big variety of flavors other than cola flavor. Alfred Steele became Pepsi’s CEO in 1950, he believed that his company will take over Coke one day, Steele was a former Coca-Cola marketing executive, and he helped Pepsi a lot due to his wide knowledge about the rival which is Coca-Cola. In an effort to raise the company’s sales, Pepsi introduced new bottle sizes such as the 24-oz family bottle. 1955 Steele married an actress named Joan Crawford and sta rted a big advertising campaign; Alfred Steel’s motto was â€Å"beat coke† which led to increasing Pepsi revenues to over 300% between years 1950 and 1959. Through the years many soft drink companies joined the industry, but the difference is that these companies focused on tastes other than colas, such as 7UP which is a mix of citric flavors and soda, 7UP was first introduced in 1929; the introduction of 7UP led to an increase in the national market share. Coca-Cola continued to expand in the 1960s making Coke available internationally and in the United States. Coca-Cola started diversifying when it bought Minute Maid Juice Company; Cola-Cola also produced new products such as Sprite. Coca-Cola offered its soft drinks either in cans or glass bottles in 1961. Throughout the years in the 1960s and 1970s, Coca-Cola introduced different new products such as Sprite, Tab, Mr.Pibb, Fresca, and Mellow Yellow. Coca-Cola concentrated on international markets to spread the drinks, this strategy of spreading Coca-Cola internationally had matured the company and made the brand image much stronger than Pepsi. Donald Kendall, a former sales manager became Pepsi CEO in 1963, under Kendall Pepsi was renamed PepsiCo and started an unrelated diversification by opening restaurants such as Pizza Hut and producing snacks. Pepsi extended its line of products in 1964 by introducing Diet Pepsi and Mountain Dew; Mountain Dew has a similar taste to Sprite with was introduced by Coca-Cola. Pepsi tried to keep track with Coke in order to keep the competition even though Coca-Cola was more powerful than PepsiCo at that time. Pepsi became more aggressive and competition hungry in 1970 and 1971 when they employed experienced marketing executives. In the 1950s and 1960s the price of Pepsi was 20% less than the price of Coke, but still wasn’t able to reach Coke’s strength; with the strong advertising campaigns thanks to the experienced executives that Pepsi recruited, Pepsi was able to gain a stronger market-share for the first time in 1975. In 1974, Pepsi was the third largest-selling soft drink after Coke and Dr. Pepper. Researchers from Pepsi have shown that in a blind test the majority of consumers preferred Pepsi over Coke. This successful experiment which was called â€Å"The Pepsi Challenge† increased Pepsi’s market share and made it the number-two brand. After the great success that this challenge brought to Pepsi, Victor Bonomo, president of Pepsi USA in 1974, decided that the Pepsi challenge should be deployed I all market where Pepsi is weak. The spread of the Pepsi challenge led to an increase in Pepsi sales by 20% in the biggest cities of America. Pepsi launched the Challenge all over the nation in 1977, and after 3 years Pepsi brand was widely recognized in the U.S. and gave Pepsi an additional 1.3% market share lead over the rival Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola responded to the challenge by giving big discounts in certain markets where Coke has a competitive advantage over Pepsi and by stating that Coke’s bottlers are owned by Coca-Cola, but Pepsi bottlers are franchisees. Knowing that Coke and Pepsi is a standardized product, Coca-Cola used price as a market weapon to target Pepsi consumers. Coke tried to regain money lost that was a result of the huge discounts that the company kept on introducing, by selling franchisees the concentrate rather than the syrup they use in manufacturing the drinks. Roberto Goizueta became CEO of Coca-Cola in 1980, he introduced a 1200-word strategy statement, and the main aim of this statement is price discounting in order to regain Coke’s position in the market. Coca-Cola began to influence the ownership and management of the of their franchised bottlers, despite being committed to independent bottlers, they replaced bottlers in key markets that were not deemed sufficiently aggressive in selling their product. The CEO of Coca-Cola USA stated that the company had some role to play in the reasons the buyers purchase the product by offering in several instances to increase the numbers of their investments with the potential buyers. 2) Contribution The â€Å"Coca-Cola Versus Pepsi-Cola† case study was written to give the maximum amount of information to business-oriented individuals, it gave so much information about two of the most competitive companies throughout history; the paper illustrated the history of the two main soft drink companies and also talked about other companies that entered the industry. The irony is Pepsi and Coca-Cola were invented by pharmacists who are supposed to prescribe drugs to people and not give them beverages with high amounts of sugar and artificial tastes, the case explained how Pepsi and Coke changed people’s views of a beverage when the companies invented carbonated soda beverages. The paper explained in details the huge cola advertising war that started in the 1980s between the rival Coca-Cola and PepsiCo that caused a big revolution in the beverage industry and incentivized new companies to enter the industry and produce beverages with different flavors. The case explained the positioning of the two companies and showed the difference in the brand value of the companies. The case was great also in giving the comparative analysis between the two companies, giving the different products other than the main product that was first manufactured by the companies. The case also showed us how the companies implemented different strategies to increase revenues and to increase market share and gain the most competitive advantage. Pepsi vs. Coca-Cola SWOT analysis Strength: *Pepsi: Very Innovative, the broad portfolio of products, more flexible franchise network, aggressive marketing strategy. *Coca-Cola: One of the most valuable brands in the world, largest market share in the soft drink industry, and great customer loyalty Weakness: *Pepsi: Competition with Coke, higher prices than Coke, and lower net profit margin than Coca-Cola *Coca-Cola: Competition with Pepsi, relies on soft drinks, and lacks diversification Opportunities: *Pepsi: International expansion and growth in the bottled water industry *Coca-Cola: Reduce costs and increased demand for bottled water Threats: *Pepsi: Increased marketing campaigns by Coke and restrictions to sell in certain countries because Coke has control on them *Coca-Cola: Strong local brands in some countries and negative publicity Michael Porters 5 Forces on Pepsi and Coca-Cola Knowing that Pepsi and Coca-Cola have standardized products, I won’t need to talk about every company alone. The intensity of Rivalry between Competitors: Pepsi and Coke are historical competitors, in the 1980s; the rivalry between them was very ferocious, and the cola war occurred at that period of time to show which companies’ products taste better. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Suppliers have no power over Pepsi or Coca-Cola, it is very easy and cheap to buy all the ingredients to manufacture soft drinks, in fact, the competition between Pepsi and Coca-Cola’s suppliers is really strong because of the great and presence of all the material. In my opinion, Pepsi and Coca-Cola have power over their suppliers; this helps them in decreasing their costs a lot. Bargaining Power of Buyers: The power of buyers in the case of Coca-Cola and Pepsi is high, because the switching cost is low or even the same depending on the geographical segment; both companies try their best to gain customer loyalty, but Coke does it better by playing on its customers’ emotions in its advertisements. The threat of New Entrants: This force is low, the soft drink industry is very competitive if a possible new product enters the market, and it would be really expensive and hard to position in the very strong industry. Threat of Substitutes: This force is high, especially because of health trends that hit the community from time to time, bottled water and juice companies are working hard in order to gain a competitive advantage over Pepsi and Coke by showing consumers the bad effects and obesity that this soda beverage can cause to our health, this is causing a change Pepsi and Coca-Cola’s strategies and making them introduce diet beverages as mentioned in the case, or even causing the Pepsi and Coca-Cola to buy big companies that produce healthy beverages; as an example, Pepsi bought Aquafina in order to have an advantage over the competitor.

Individuality Vs The Perfect World :: essays research papers

Imagine the world as only beautiful people. Everywhere you look is a Cindy Crawford look-a-like: 5'9", brown hair, brown eyes, and the perfect smile. A "Master Race." Do we really want to reenact Adolf Hitler's plan of seeking world domination killing million upon millions as a "final solution?" Instead of killing, we'd be reproducing millions, going against nature. Say we went and got one of Princess Diana's cells and implanted that in an egg that was then placed into a surrogate mother. Nine months later, we would have a baby Princess Diana. Only trouble is, this baby would only resemble Princess Diana in looks, not personality, character, or individuality. Her whole life wouldn't be what it had been; she wouldn't be "her." What if your newborn son died? Just think; you could have a second chance. Is this morally or ethnically right? Cloning of humans should be forbidden, but cloning of human body parts for medicinal purposes should be allowed. Cloning hasn't been a big issue or ever thought to have actually been made to work until 1997 with the successful birth of a lamb named Dolly. Out of 277 eggs implanted in different sheep mothers, Dolly was the only lamb successfully born. The method used to clone Dolly was scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland took a cell out of the mammary gland. They then used an electrical pulse to coax an adult cell into merging with a host egg whose nucleus had been removed . This method being very unsuccessful brought on a new one where scientists used mice, injecting just the adult nucleus into a nucleus free host instead of using an electrical pulse. They also had let it set for two hours before stimulating it to start dividing. The success rate was 2-3 in 100. Now knowing that we could clone sheep and mice, scientists were up to the possibility and challenge of cloning humans. As soon as it became public knowledge that cloning was really happening and becoming more successful, the USA imposed a ban on federal funding for human-cloning research. Several states have established restrictions, some even banning cloning completely. Cloning is not morally or ethnically right. Morally, scientists would be taking the role of God. If a clone dies, where would they go? In religious beliefs, clones would have no souls because God didn't create them. Cloning would alter the definition of ourselves.

Mindfulness Worksheet Essay

Please use the information from your â€Å"mindfulness conversation† to complete this worksheet. Submit this worksheet in the Module 1: Assignment 3 Dropbox no later than Day 7 of Module 1. Include vocabulary and concepts from your reading and course site to support and illustrate your own insights. In preparation for the papers you’ll write later in this course, take the time to organize your thoughts for each question and write clearly. Completed worksheet should be not more than three pages. 1. Describe who you had the conversation with and where. Only disclose what you are comfortable with. You can use initials or code names. I had this mindfulness conversation with a friend I’ve had for a long time. I had the conversation at my house on the front porch. 2. How easy/hard did you find it to be mindful? Why? I find it very easy to be mindful this time one reason being that me and him knew each other since we were 12 and we connect like brothers and have a lot in common that’s why I can be so mindful to him. 3. What did you notice during the moments when you were able to be mindful? How were you feeling? I noticed while being mindful that we have so much in common and we shared so many memorys for so many years. I felt very good listening to him because we are so close and it felt good to listen to what he had to say at those moments. 4. How did mindlessness – both yours and the other person’s – show up in the conversation? What affect did it have? Our mindfulness showed mine at first because I was only listening to him then him to me. It affected us by letting us know we can both be mindful and listen and learn from each other. 5. What 2-3 things did you learn about mindfulness? I learned that when you listen to someone they can teach you something everyone has a different perspective and view and deserve to be listened to. Next I learned that when you stop and be mindful to someone they will in return most likely be mindful to you. 6. What would help you be more mindful in your life? Identify 2 actions (i.e. new behaviors you can practice). How will these actions improve your interpersonal effectiveness? One thing that would help me be more mindful would be to learn about that person find out what we got in common and listen to them and then tell them what we have in common and share that with them. If I did this more often then I would definitely improve my interpersonal effectiveness because when you are more mindful then people will do the same to you and when people are mindful to each other then they will get along better and can teach each other more things about each other and about life in general.

Project Management and Monitoring

Monitoring is the regular observation and recording of activities taking place in a project or programme. It is a process of routinely gathering information on all aspects of the project. To monitor is to check on how project activities are progressing. It is observation; – systematic and purposeful observation. Monitoring also involves giving feedback about the progress of the project to the donors, implementers and beneficiaries of the project. Reporting enables the gathered information to be used in making decisions for improving project performance.Monitoring is the systematic collection and analysis of information as a project progresses. It is aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of a project or organisation. It is based on targets set and activities planned during the planning phases of work. It helps to keep the work on track, and can let management know when things are going wrong. If done properly, it is an invaluable tool for good management, and it p rovides a useful base for evaluation.It enables you to determine whether the resources you have available are sufficient and are being well used, whether the capacity you have is sufficient and appropriate, and whether you are doing what you planned to do Purpose of Monitoring: Monitoring is very important in project planning and implementation. It is like watching where you are going while riding a bicycle; you can adjust as you go along and ensure that you are on the right track. Monitoring provides information that will be useful in: Analyzing the situation in the community and its project; †¢ Determining whether the inputs in the project are well utilized; †¢ Identifying problems facing the community or project and finding solutions; †¢ Ensuring all activities are carried out properly by the right people and in time;†¢ Using lessons from one project experience on to another; and †¢ Determining whether the way the project was planned is the most appropria te way of solving the problem at hand. Planning, Monitoring and Controlling Cycle: [pic] Importance of Monitoring: Monitoring is important because: it provides the only consolidated source of information showcasing project progress; †¢ it allows actors to learn from each other’s experiences, building on expertise and knowledge; †¢ it often generates (written) reports that contribute to transparency and accountability, and allows for lessons to be shared more easily; †¢ it reveals mistakes and offers paths for learning and improvements; †¢ it provides a basis for questioning and testing assumptions;†¢ it provides a means for agencies seeking to learn from their experiences and to incorporate them into policy and practice; †¢ it provides a way to assess the crucial link between implementers and beneficiaries on the ground and decision-makers; †¢ it adds to the retention and development of institutional memory; †¢ it provides a more robust basis for raising funds and influencing policy. WHY DO MONITORING? Monitoring enable you to check the â€Å"bottom line† (see Glossary of Terms) of development work: Not â€Å"are we making a profit? † but â€Å"are we making a difference? † Through monitoring and evaluation, you can: _ Review progress; _ Identify problems in planning and/or implementation; _ Make adjustments so that you are more likely to â€Å"make a difference†.In many organisations, â€Å"monitoring and evaluation† is something that that is seen as a donor requirement rather than a management tool. Donors are certainly entitled to know whether their money is being properly spent, and whether it is being well spent. But the primary (most important) use of monitoring and evaluation should be for the organisation or project itself to see how it is doing against objectives, whether it is having an impact, whether it is working efficiently, and to learn how to do it better. Plans a re essential but they are not set in concrete (totally fixed). If they are not working, or if the circumstances change, then plans need to change too.Monitoring and evaluation are both tools which help a project or organisation know when plans are not working, and when circumstances have changed. They give management the information it needs to make decisions about the project or organisation, about changes that are necessary in strategy or plans. Through this, the constants remain the pillars of the strategic framework: the problem analysis, the vision, and the values of the project or organisation. Everything else is negotiable. (See also the toolkit on strategic planning) Getting something wrong is not a crime. Failing to learn from past mistakes because you are not monitoring and evaluating, is.The effect of monitoring and evaluation can be seen in the following cycle. Note that you will monitor and adjust several times before you are ready to evaluate and replan. Monitoring inv olves: _ Establishing indicators (See Glossary of Terms) of efficiency, effectiveness and impact; _ Setting up systems to collect information relating to these indicators; _ Collecting and recording the information; _ Analysing the information; _ Using the information to inform day-to-day management. Monitoring is an internal function in any project or organisation. WHAT DO WE WANT TO KNOW? What we want to know is linked to what we think is important. In development work, what we think is important is linked to our values.Most work in civil society organisations is underpinned by a value framework. It is this framework that determines the standards of acceptability in the work we do. The central values on which most development work is built are: _ Serving the disadvantaged; _ Empowering the disadvantaged; _ Changing society, not just helping individuals; _ Sustainability; _ Efficient use of resources. So, the first thing we need to know is: Is what we are doing and how we are doing it meeting the requirements of these values? In order to answer this question, our monitoring and evaluation system must give us information about: _ Who is benefiting from what we do? How much are they benefiting? Are beneficiaries passive recipients or does the process enable them to have some control over their lives?_ Are there lessons in what we are doing that have a broader impact than just what is happening on our project? _ Can what we are doing be sustained in some way for the long-term, or will the impact of our work cease when we leave? _ Are we getting optimum outputs for the least possible amount of inputs? MONITORING When you design a monitoring system, you are taking a formative view point and establishing a system that will provide useful information on an ongoing basis so that you can improve what you do and how you do it. On the next page, you will find a suggested process for designing a monitoring system.For a case study of how an organisation went about designi ng a monitoring system, go to the section with examples, and the example given of designing a monitoring system. Monitoring DESIGNING A MONITORING SYSTEM Below is a step-by-step process you could use in order to design a monitoring system for your organisation or project. For a case study of how an organisation went about designing a monitoring system, go to examples. Step 1: At a workshop with appropriate staff and/or volunteers, and run by you or a consultant:_ Introduce the concepts of efficiency, effectiveness and impact (see Glossary of Terms). _ Explain that a monitoring system needs to cover all three. Generate a list of indicators for each of the three aspects. _ Clarify what variables (see Glossary of Terms) need to be linked. So, for example, do you want to be able to link the age of a teacher with his/her qualifications in order to answer the question: Are older teachers more or less likely to have higher qualifications? _ Clarify what information the project or organisat ion is already collecting. Step 2: Turn the input from the workshop into a brief for the questions your monitoring system must be able to answer. Depending on how complex your requirements are, and what your capacity is, you may decide to go for a computerised data base or a manual one.If you want to be able to link many variables across many cases (e. g. participants, schools, parent involvement, resources, urban/rural etc), you may need to go the computer route. If you have a few variables, you can probably do it manually. The important thing is to begin by knowing what variables you are interested in and to keep data on these variables. Linking and analysis can take place later. (These concepts are complicated. It will help you to read the case study in the examples section of the toolkit. ) From the workshop you will know what you want to monitor. You will have the indicators of efficiency, effectiveness and impact that have been prioritised.You will then choose the variables th at will help you answer the questions you think are important. So, for example, you might have an indicator of impact which is that â€Å"safer sex options are chosen† as an indicator that â€Å"young people are now making informed and mature lifestyle choices†. The variables that might affect the indicator include: _ Age _ Gender _ Religion _ Urban/rural _ Economic category _ Family environment _ Length of exposure to your project’s initiative _ Number of workshops attended. By keeping the right information you will be able to answer questions such as: _ Does age make a difference to the way our message is received? _ Does economic category i. e. o young people in richer areas respond better or worse to the message or does it make no difference?_ Does the number of workshops attended make a difference to the impact? Answers to these kinds of questions enable a project or organisation to make decisions about what they do and how they do it, to make informed chan ges to programmes, and to measure their impact and effectiveness. Answers to questions such as: _ Do more people attend sessions that are organised well in advance? _ Do more schools participate when there is no charge? _ Do more young people attend when sessions are over weekends or in the evenings? _ Does it cost less to run a workshop in the community, or to bring people to our training centre to run the workshop? nable the project or organisation to measure and improve their efficiency.Step 3: Decide how you will collect the information you need (see collecting information) and where it will be kept (on computer, in manual files). Step 4: Decide how often you will analyse the information – this means putting it together and trying to answer the questions you think are important. Step 5: Collect, analyse, report. PURPOSE OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION What development interventions make a difference? Is the project having the intended results? What can be done differently to better meet goals and objectives? These are the questions that monitoring and evaluation allow organizations to answer.Monitoring and evaluation are important management tools to track your progress and facilitate decision making. While some funders require some type of evaluative process, the greatest beneficiaries of an evaluation can be the community of people with whom your organization works. By closely examining your work, your organization can design programs and activities that are effective, efficient, and yield powerful results for the community. Definitions are as follows: Monitoring can be defined as a continuing function that aims primarily to provide the management and main stakeholders of an ongoing intervention with early indications of progress, or lack thereof, in the achievement of results.An ongoing intervention might be a project, program or other kind of support to an outcome. Monitoring helps organizations track achievements by a regular collection of informa tion to assist timely decision making, ensure accountability, and provide the basis for evaluation and learning. STRATEGIC QUESTIONS In conducting monitoring and evaluation efforts, the specific areas to consider will depend on the actual intervention, and its stated outcomes. Areas and examples of questions include: †¢ Relevance: Do the objectives and goals match the problems or needs that are being addressed?†¢ Efficiency: Is the project delivered in a timely and cost-effective manner? Effectiveness: To what extent does the intervention achieve its objectives? What are the supportive factors and obstacles encountered during the implementation? †¢ Impact: What happened as a result of the project? This may include intended and unintended positive and negative effects. †¢ Sustainability: Are there lasting benefits after the intervention is completed? COMMON TERMS Monitoring and evaluation take place at different levels. The following box defines the common terms w ith examples. INPUTS The financial, human, and material resources used for the development intervention. Technical Expertise Equipment Funds ACTIVITIES Actions taken or work performed.Training workshops conducted OUTPUTS The products, capital goods, and services that result from a development intervention. Number of people trained Number of workshops conducted OUTCOMES The likely or achieved short-term and medium-term effects or changes of an intervention’s outputs. Increased skills New employment opportunities IMPACTS The long-term consequences of the program, may be positive and negative effects. Improved standard of living STEP-BY-STEP: Planning for Monitoring and Evaluation Steps for designing a monitoring and evaluation system depend on what you are trying to monitor and evaluate. The following is an outline of some general steps you may ake in thinking through at the time of planning your activities:1. Identify who will be involved in the design, implementation, and rep orting. Engaging stakeholders helps ensure their perspectives are understood and feedback is incorporated. 2. Clarify scope, purpose, intended use, audience, and budget for evaluation. 3. Develop the questions to answer what you want to learn as a result of your work. 4. Select indicators. Indicators are meant to provide a clear means of measuring achievement, to help assess the performance, or to reflect changes. They can be either quantitative and/or qualitative. A process indicator is information that focuses on how a program is implemented. 5.Determine the data collection methods. Examples of methods are: document reviews, questionnaires, surveys, and interviews. 6. Analyze and synthesize the information you obtain. Review the information obtained to see if there are patterns or trends that emerge from the process. 7. Interpret these findings, provide feedback, and make recommendations. The process of analyzing data and understanding findings should provide you with recommendati ons about how to strengthen your work, as well as any mid-term adjustments you may need to make. 8. Communicate your findings and insights to stakeholders and decide how to use the results to strengthen your organization’s efforts.Monitoring and evaluation not only help organizations reflect and understand past performance, but serve as a guide for constructive changes during the period of implementation. Why have a detailed toolkit on monitoring and evaluation? If you don’t care about how well you are doing or about what impact you are having, why bother to do it at all? Monitoring and evaluation enable you to assess the quality and impact of your work, against your action plans and your strategic plan. In order for monitoring and evaluation to be really valuable, you do need to have planned well. Planning is dealt with in detail in other toolkits on this website. Who should use this toolkit?This toolkit should be useful to anyone working in an organisation or project who is concerned about the efficiency, effectiveness and impact of the work of the project or organisation. When will this toolkit be useful? This toolkit will be useful when: _ You are setting up systems for data collection during the planning phases of a project or organisation; _ You want to analyse data collected through the monitoring process; _ You are concerned about how efficiently and how effectively you are working; _ You reach a stage in your project, or in the life of your organisation, when you think it would be useful to evaluate what impact the work is having; _ Donors ask for an external evaluation of your organisation and or work. DESIGNING A MONITORING SYSTEM – CASE STUDYWhat follows is a description of a process that a South African organisation called Puppets against AIDS went through in order to develop a monitoring system which would feed into monitoring and evaluation processes. The main work of the organisation is presenting workshopped plays and/or p uppet shows related to lifeskill issues, especially those lifeskills to do with sexuality, at schools, across the country. The organisation works with a range of age groups, with different â€Å"products† (scripts) being appropriate at different levels. Puppets against AIDS wanted to develop a monitoring and evaluation system that provided useful information on the efficiency, effectiveness and impact of its operations. To this end, it wanted to develop a data base that:Provided all the basic information the organisation needed about clients and services given; _ Produced reports that enabled the organisation to inform itself and other stakeholders, including donors, partners and even schools, about the impact of the work, and what affected the impact of the work. The organisation made a decision to go for a computerised monitoring system. Much of the day-to-day information needed by the organisation was already on a computerised data base (e. g. schools, regions, services pr ovided and so on), but the monitoring system would require a substantial upgrading and the development of data base software specific to the organisation’s needs.The organisation also made the decision to develop a system initially for a pilot project, but with the intention of extending it to all the work over time. This pilot project would work with about 60 schools, using different scripts each year, over a period of three years. In order to raise the money needed for this process, Puppets against AIDS needed some kind of a brief for what was required so that it could be costed. At an initial workshop with staff, facilitated by consultants, the staff generated a list of indicators for efficiency, effectiveness and impact, in relation to their work. These were the things staff wanted to know from the system about what they did, how they did it, and what difference it made. The terms were defined as follows:Efficiency Here what needed to be assessed was how quickly, how corr ectly, how cost effectively and with what use of resources the services of the organisation were offered. Much of this information was already collected and was contained in reports which reflected planning against achievement. It needed to be made â€Å"computer friendly†. Effectiveness Here what needed to be assessed was getting results in terms of the strategy and shorter-term impact. For example, were the puppet shows an effective means of communicating messages about sexuality? Again, this information was already being collected and just needed to be adapted to fit the computerised system.Impact Here what needed to be assessed was whether the strategy worked in that it had an impact on changing behaviour in individuals (in this case the students) and that that change in behaviour impacted positively on Monitoring and Evaluation Monitoring and Evaluation by Janet Shapiro (email: [email  protected] co. za that happens when a donor insists on it, in fact, monitoring and e valuation are invaluable internal management tools. If you don’t assess how well you are doing against targets and indicators, you may go on using resources to no useful end, without changing the situation you have identified as a problem at all. Monitoring and evaluation enable you to make that assessment.

Challenges for Coke Cola Essay Example

Challenges for Coke Cola Essay Example Challenges for Coke Cola Essay Challenges for Coke Cola Essay Among the vastly growing diversity challenges Coca Cola continued to face statewide and globally to preparing their workforce, understanding the culture and overcoming major crisis in Belgium was one of the most challenging. After a mass recall in mid 1999, in which, Children at six schools in Belgium had complained of headache, nausea, vomiting and shivering after drinking Coca-Colas beverages, leading to their hospitalizations. Most of them reported an unusual odor and an off-taste in the drink. Coca-Cola had to recall about 30 million cans and bottles, the largest ever product recall in its 113-year history. For the first time, the entire inventory of Coca-Colas products in Belgium was banned from sale. Coca-Cola sales did drop that year but with their valued effort to regain the public’s trust, measures had to be put in place. Coke’s workforce had to be better prepared, re-trained, and safety precautions were put in place so that things like this would not happen again. The expectations and desired outcomes were directed at upper management to find better ways to connect with the employees and launch new initiatives in the ever-fast changing market. Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) faced strong competition from other beverage companies and needed a way to work more effectively with its customers and partners. This required innovation and a new way of communicating within the corporation. In 2008, CCE acknowledged that the current communications platforms were no longer enabling the innovation and collaboration required to take it to the next level and compete in an increasingly demanding economic environment. The increasing presence of competition were resulting the declining revenues. CCE decided to implement a Microsoft-based hosted worldwide intranet with messaging and collaboration tools, which are accessible to all employees from any device, enabling employees to boost productivity and time with customers. These efforts were lead by the employee leadership head of the company and proved to be another step in the right direction. In a continued effort to prepare their workforce the employees had to take cultural diversity classes in order to learn and understand a different way of life in Belgium. Maximize Benefits CCE, Inc. needed a software system that would evolve as technology changed to help it remain a beverage-industry leader. The company also wanted to deliver merchandising solutions that reflect the differences across stores, as well as implement and maintain controlled quality checks on store-level Plano grams. Additionally, this beverage giant wanted to increase its productivity, efficiency and effectiveness in its Plano gram process. CCE Inc. aximized each benefit by streamlined planning and execution, optimized space and category performance, Increased category sales and profits through more intelligent decision making, delivered store-specific Plano grams that were grounded in shopper insights and store-specific data, Improved Plano gram consistency and accuracy, and Increased category optimization. Minimizing the Challenges Though there were many challenges to deal with and future challenges ahead, the present problems of dealing with water conservation, racial extortionist, were the major issues ahead. Water is the main ingredient in nearly every beverage that they make and without access to safe water supply their business simply cannot exist. Because of the critical importance of water not just to their business, but also to ecosystems, human health, progress and development, The Coca-Cola Company is focusing on conserving and protecting water for people, species and ecosystems throughout the world. Another challenge is deal with frivolous lawsuit from extortionist trying to cash in on the Mega Giant. In November 2000 Coca Cola became the second U. S. Corporation to cave in to racial extortion demands by disgruntled minority employees who only had to allege racial discrimination. For their efforts, they extorted at least $475,200,000 from Coke. Protecting themselves from litigious claims is still a challenge all major companies have to safe guard and the only way to truly protect their assets is through proper management quarterly training, policies and procedures acknowledgements, and safe working environments.

Summarize a reading related to issues of human diversity in working Assignment

Summarize a reading related to issues of human diversity in working with individuals of minority status - Assignment Example Hence, the topic is very vast, and gives extensive information regarding the importance of human diversity in organizations. As is obvious from the title of the research article, it is important to understand where we stand now in terms of human diversity, and what we are doing to promote diversity and reduce all sorts of discrimination against minorities at the workplaces. The authors have stated that previous researches focused on only one or the other type of discrimination; while, this research puts forward a more diverse model of human diversity, giving the reader a more exact idea on how we can promote the idea of human diversity in organization. The research also goes in detail of the outcomes of human diversity. Thus, the reader gets to know the importance of the topic in terms of pros and cons. Although there are no definite research questions or hypothesis that is to be tested, still we can say that the research focuses on queries, such as, what past literature is available, explaining different dimensions of diversity in organizations; and, does past literature tells the reader about the limitations and strengths of each dimension. Hence, the focus is on reviewing past literature, and providing suggestions to improve the research. 2.1. Race and ethnic diversity. The authors start with race and ethnic diversity. They state how humans judge each other on the basis of race and ethnic backgrounds. They have also cited much literature, all of which agrees that racial and ethnic discrimination against minorities results in negative effects on social integration and communication, thus, increasing organizational conflict. 2.2. Gender diversity. It is another dimension of human diversity. The authors state that gender diversity is important, but at the same time, it is important for the organizations to eliminate gender discrimination. Women are more at risk of gender discrimination at

Lowe's vs. home depot Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Lowe's vs. home depot - Essay Example That is one of reasons that statistics show more sale revenue for Home Depot which is more accessible due to more branches! Lowe’s and Home Depot, being in the same business, have distinctly differentiated market strategy. Lowe’s is more focused to the needs and requirements of women and housewives who are more incline to buy dà ©cor accessories and unique products that can make a fashion statement for them. Home Depot, on the other hand, caters to the bulk buyers like contractors and retail customers, men especially, who are seriously into DIY (do it yourself) products. Home Depot has a better competitive image because they not only have more stores but they have also realized the need to improve on their quality and customer service. They are also thinking of expanding their product line to cater to wider customer base. Lowe’s, on the other hand, is just intending to improve on its customer service which is inadequate in the current scenario of recessive trend and highly competitive business