Better Communication Essay

Effective communication is the key in the health care critical for health care professionals. The key foundation of any coworkers is being able to communicate clearly. With the help of effective communication people are able to define and understand goals and shear and receive the information better. When there is a lack of communication in the health care industry it can cause a poor medical care and mistakes in patent’s medical history. Therefor; clarity is a must in the health care industry. Active listening is also a part of better communication skills. The supportive and defensive communication is everywhere and lasting. In the health care environment supportive communication is appropriate then defensive communication. Supportive communication expresses encouragement and understanding when communicating with others while during defensive communication the individual feels defended, anxious or threatened. During communication as a individual becomes defensive they are les s able to recognize the values and senders emotions Interpersonal communication is the interaction between two or more people. Good interpersonal communication skills are essential in the creation and maintenance of relationships with others. Dwyer (2009, p.62) explains that ‘in any context, our relationships are built through our interpersonal communication.’ Self concept, emotional intelligence, assertive behaviour, empathy and the ability to actively listen and provide feedback are all desirable interpersonal communication tools considered necessary to maintain relationships and aid in conflict resolution. Dwyer (2009, p. 152) states that ‘Conflict arises when needs are not met. Those needs can be physical, financial, social, educational, intellectual, recreational or spiritual, tangible or intangible. However, even in a situation of conflict, it is possible, by finding areas of common ground, to remove some of the differences and to emphasise the similarities while tackling the conflict and working towards the solution’. Good interpersonal communication skills help to create an understanding between persons in conflict whereby they can make common ground and have a better understanding of whe re the other party is coming from. Dwyer (2009, p. 175) explains that ‘Conflict expressed and addressed in ways that respect relationships and consider as many needs as possible is positive and constructive’. In order to achieve common ground, emphasise similarities and work towards conflict solutions, the communication climate must be positive and both parties must be willing to resolve the issue. The role of Interpersonal Communication in Conflict Resolution In order to communicate effectively with others a sound understanding of your own self concept is required. Self concept can be described as your â€Å"self image†, it is the mental picture that you have of yourself. Yahaya, Azizi, Ramli and Jamaludin (2009) explain that ‘Self-concept refers to the totality of a complex, organized, and dynamic system of†¦ Interpersonal communication is defined by Brooks and Heath (1993) as â€Å"the process by which information, meanings and feelings are shared by persons through the exchange of v erbal and nonverbal messages (as cited in Dickson and Hargie, 2003, p.1). In order to demonstrate my understanding of effective and non-effective communication skills I have chosen to analyse a dialogue between a seasoned policeman and a hardened criminal taken from the movie Heat. It is deep and meaningful interaction between two adversaries. After much deliberation I have narrowed down my analysis to the use of rapport building, self-disclosure and empathy, verbally and non-verbally. I will also attempt to identify the barriers to communication in this dialogue and explore the reasons why these skills were used ineffectively, and suggest how they could have been improved upon. Rapport-building is defined by Robbins (1986, p. 207, as cited in Study Guide) as ‘the ability to enter someone else’s world, to make him feel that you understand him, that you have a strong common bond’ I think it is at the very core of effective interpersonal communication because it ‘is one of the most important features or characteristics of unconscious human interaction’ and without it the purpose of the interaction cannot be achieved. It is ‘commonality of perspective, being in â€Å"sync†, being on the same â€Å"wavelength† as the person with whom you are talking’ (http://www.inspirationalsolutions-lp.co.uk/theimportanceofrapport.pdf). Following that line of thinking it is essential to establish rapport as soon as possible in a didactic interpersonal conversation, whatever the purpose of the discussion is – to learn, to relate, to play or to help (De Vito, p.80). The very first sentence that Hanna says demonstrates an attempt to establish rapport â€Å"Howya doing?† (he does not wait for an answer and continues talking) â€Å"Whaddaya say I buy you a cup of coffee?†. He is wearing casual jeans and a white sweatshirt. First and foremost, congratulations of your engagement. I am very excited that you chose to reach out to me for advice in understanding interpersonal communication with each other before you get married. After taking classes for interpersonal communication Nicholas Epley explained the differences this way, â€Å"Our problem in communicating with friends and spouses is that we have an illusion of insight. Getting close to someone appears to create the illusion of understanding more than actual understanding† (2011 para. 8). There are a lot of books that one could read but in all actuality a successful relationship is based on the two people entering the communion and realizing that marriages take hard work and dedication, no matter how easy it looks. I will advise you on how to mold the following steps such as learning your role in the marriage, actively listening, opening up to your partner about your feelings, and choosing your words wisely into your everyday life which can produce a successful relationship; all this and effective communication is completely up to you. My first major topic for you to always remember is that you must listen to your partner. You probably find yourself asking over and over are you paying attention to me. Did you hear anything that I said? Do not fret over that because every person in a relationship has asked the same question. You may not like what he or she has to say but to have a positive relationship you must listen actively, critically, and empathically. Now please allow me to explain to you what I mean by those terms. Kathy Sole tells us that listening is important to the conversation because it creates meaning between both people (2011). When you want to have an in depth conversation with your spouse, you need to eliminate all noise, make eye contact, actively listen means to truly think about what you hear. Critically listening ties into actively listening because you understand what your spouse†¦ Assertiveness Assertiveness is a simple skill that requires a lot of practice to perfect. Basically, assertiveness requires us to speak our minds, to do so in such a way that the meaning of our communication is clear. Hopefully our expressed wish is acknowledged, but this is not necessary for us to be assertive. To achieve assertive communication, we have to state what is in our minds; that is, our thoughts and feelings. Advanced assertiveness is when we ask for what we want regardless of whether the â€Å"recipient† understands what we communicate, and regardless of whether or not we get what we want. Complete assertiveness requires both levels intellectual and emotional communication. The workplace presents both a challenge and potentially some relief when it comes to being assertive. On the one hand, we work with others, usually often, so there is some sense of familiarity. Yet, we do not live with them. There is a certain built-in interpersonal distance. With acquaintances at work, the challenge is to ask for what we want or at least state our opinion, more or less at intellectual, pragmatic levels. We tend to leave out the personal side, because our relationships are not that personal. From this standpoint, assertiveness is easier because there are less personal consequences. We can state our case and others likely will not take our message so personally. This is truer if the issue at hand is small. It is also more likely to be true of communications among co-workers of equal status. If there are other good elements; that is, more interpersonal warmth, bonding and empathy, talking to the boss can be assertively successful. But we need some slightly deeper personal connection to the boss to make this work, to grease the wheels of information exchange. The workpl ace presents a challenge to being more interpersonally intimate with co-workers who may not really be so friendly. The same is true with bosses that have different levels of power†¦. An Interpersonal relationship in the health care environment is based off the relationship between the people you work with, such as the staff, patients, and doctor. Your interpersonal relationship between you, the coworker, and patients is very important and crucial within the health care environment, you must be able to â€Å"treat your clients with respect†, â€Å"do not be rude or ever shout at them†, never disclose any type of information about a patient to a client†, and â€Å"have feelings for the patients† (2004)(1.3.8). In order for the patients to feel comfortable you must treat them with a certain level of respect and make them feel as comfortable as possible, such as have close relationship with all the patients and staff. For example ask how their day is going, or give them positive feedback about any questions they might have or need help with so he or she is always satisfied with the service. Your â€Å"perspective† in the health care industry is very important and crucial to your coworkers and clients, and you always want to provide them with the best â€Å"quality of care†. Next, a supportive relationship rather than a defensive relationship in the health care environment is more appropriate, and I say this because to be defensive with the coworkers, patients or staff will make that person feel â€Å"uncomfortable†, :†guilty†, or even hostile. On the other hand, a supportive relationship is something you want to have with the clients, staff, and patients because you always want to be able to support them with positive feedback, such as are â€Å"supportive† when a patient asks for advice or a particular type of treatment show â€Å"recognition†, â€Å"acknowledgement†, and â€Å"endorsement†. Supportive is more of a positive feedback and defensive is negative feedback, and defensive or negative feedback is som ething you do not want to happen, you always want to remain supportive, positive, and assertive with people at all times. Assertive style and its appropriateness in health care†the preferred†¦ Course Hero has millions of student submitted documents similar to the one below including study guides, practice problems, reference materials, practice exams, textbook help and tutor support. communication1 Interpersonal Interpersonal Communication in your Relationship Christy Fobert COM 200 Instructor Youngs 6/22/11 Interpersonal communication2 Dear Jason and Amber, I am writing in response to your request asking for some advice on interpersonal communication in your relationship. As you know my husband and I have been attending classes that help with communication in relationships. We also believe we can give you some dire advice based on our own personal experience since we have six years behind us. Being a newly engaged couple and asking for advice before marriage lets us know you are both serious in committing to one another. This also makes it seem you are both committed to keeping your relationship alive and well. The best advice I can give you is to keep your communication alive and well. In this letter I will give you some advice on the concepts of good interpersonal communication. I will explain what we have been learning in our classes and also what I can explain to how we have experienced this in our relationship. The first basic but important skill to communication is listening. Listening to each other shows that you both respect one another and care about what the other is saying. There are three important types of listening and they are: active, critical, and empathetic. The first skill that we will discuss pertaining to the listening is actively listening. Active listening is assertive communication that develops a sense of trust. In my personal relationship letting your spouse know that you are listening lets them feel important and build trust within your relationship. Actively listening in your communication will allow you to build trust because of the openness that it builds. Openness within active listening makes your spouse feel a†¦ Effective communication in healthcare is essential to deliver good patient care. When delegating tasks to co-workers, one needs to be clear and precise. When people have a full understanding of what their job is, they will perform better and patients will get better outcomes. Without effective communication we are setting up our fellow co-workers for failure and our patients as well. Effective communication is necessary to convey the importance of instructions and task to co-workers so they can fully understand the importance of their task and the steps necessary to manage the task. Effective communication is also necessary to be able to understand what our patients are telling us, and how to better listen and relate to them. Rashad is attending the team meeting and is being assertive in trying to clarify his role as assistive personnel. He is showing that the nurses would be able to rely on him to help with their patients during the shift for hygienic care and toileting. He is using an assertive form of communication with speaking up during the meeting. This assertiveness is quickly shot down by the aggressive communication of RN, Robin. Her comments of calling Rashad only an aide is belittling and then stating that those cares are the role of a RN farther the belittling. Robin continues to say that Rashad is not expected to think but to do as told is not uplifting at all and developed into feelings of resentment. These feelings are expressed in Rashad’s new goal; of developing a plan to make Robin pay for her comments. Robin’s comments established a tone of superiority and dominance as she shows her expectations that only the nurses know how to think and that the aides should be more like robots to her commands. This aggressive style of communication hurts others and is used to set someone up to overpower†¦ Interpersonal communication is the type of communication that people use to communicate their ideas, thoughts, ideas and feelings to one another person. In Interpersonal Communication, you are dependent upon another person for the communication to be effective. With that being said I thought that I would have great interpersonal communication skills but sadly I do not. I thought I that I would have great interpersonal communication skills because most of the time I can tell how a person is feeling, try to understand how they feel, and what is driving them to feel that way. That is the reason why I wanted to become a social worker but I am glad that I am taking this class to understand my interpersonal communication skills better. I never really thought of interpersonal communication skills as being as important as they are. Whether we like it or not interpersonal communication a key skill for personal and professional relationships. What you say and what you don’t say both carry a lot of weight in communication. Having effective interpersonal communication means that you use both of these forms to your advantage and remain aware of your behavior throughout a conversation. With that being said there are three key points that I feel that I need to do a great deal of improvement on and they are overcoming my fear to speak, my eye contact, and being aware of my adaptors that I use and how I use them. The first thing I feel that would help my interpersonal communication skills is to overcome my fear to talk people that I do not know. I have to overcome this fear because if not I will never be able to become the great social worker that I can become. I feel that a great way for me to overcome this fear is by talking to strangers at work. By not saying anything or acknowledging my co-worker that I do not know is not sending a message good message to them. If I want to have effective interpersonal communication, I have to get†¦ Effective communication is important for psychological well-being for a number of reasons. Communication allows conveying our needs and feelings to others, as well as to respond to and respect the needs of others. Social supports are an important factor to decrease anxiety and depression. Communication helps to develop significant relationships with friends and family, as well as with romantic partners. Developing skills that allow communication between p eople that we trust allows for expression of emotions, as well as the ability to get feedback and support. Three very important skills are needed for communication. They are assertiveness, conversational or verbal communication skills and nonverbal communication skills. Two attitudes are important in developing communication skills that are effective. These skills are being proactive and thinking win/win. Proactive means taking responsibility for your life. A person can choose to be happy and successful. In the win/win situation, society has labeled life as either a clear winner or a loser. In business, the goal is to provide the best service or product to maximize profits and beat the competition. This plays a major role in why society thinks that in interpersonal interactions it too is a game in which there is a clear winner and loser. A mature and confident way to approach human reactions is thinking win/win. This approach allows for both parties to succeed and achieve goals. Being assertive is one of my greatest assets. I have learned that a closed mouth will never get fed. When being assertive it is not necessary to raise our voice or shout at other people. Being threatening is not assertive either. Many people confuse aggression with assertion. Being assertive allows speaking in normal tones, respecting personal distance and the ability to state opinions needs or wants.

Colors Tv Report

Colors TV Channel – Study of Marketing Strategy Presented By: Group 2 Gourav Dokania – 10P078 Rahul Kaushal – 10P100 Saaransh Malani – 10P106 Shalabh Arora – 10P109 Shivi Goel -10P112 Tisa Annie Paul – 10P117 Vivek Mogili – 10P120 Contents Introduction:3 Television environment: a brief study4 Marketing environment:4 The Genesis – The Launch and its effects7 The Silver Lining10 MARKET ENTRY STRATEGIES OF COLORS (PRE-LAUNCH)10 PROMOTION STRATEGIES for the launch:12 Analysing Colors based on marketing framework15 SWOT Analysis:17 Marketing Mix:18 Analyzing consumer behavior and developing targeting strategies:19 ADVERTISING POLICIES21 AD rates and Sources of Revenues:22 DISTRIBUTION POLICIES OF COLORS23 Pricing Policy24 INTERNATIONAL FORAY24 Areas of concern:25 Introduction: As part of our second project in Marketing Planning course, we would like to present a comprehensive study regarding the Colors TV channel. As part of the study, we would like to cover the following points: 1. The marketing environment revolving around TV channels in general This is divided into three parts during the course of the report: †¢ Pre-liberalization environment The immediate post-liberalization phase †¢ The environment preceding the launch of Colors channel †¢ The present marketing environment 2. The consumer target segment and their behaviour during the above phases 3. The launch strategies followed by Colors TV 4. The analysis of Colors TV channel based on various marketing frameworks Below are the frameworks, we would like to base our study on: †¢ SWOT analysis †¢ 5 C’s framework 5. The product and marketing strategies followed by the channel 6. The segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies as applicable. The study and analysis is backed by an online survey 7. The pricing policies taking into account the revenue model and AD rates 8. The distribution policies followed by the channel 9. Recommendations and conclusions Television environment: a brief study We will start our study by briefly explaining what we mean by a marketing environment and will then proceed to study the marketing environment of TV channels as discussed in the phases above. We will specifically focus our study in Hindi General Entertainment Channels. Marketing environment: A marketing environment consists of actors and forces outside the organization that affect management’s ability to build and maintain relationships with target customers. Two kinds of classification can be made: †¢ Microenvironment: actors close to the companies that affect its ability to serve its customers. †¢ Macroenvironment: larger societal forces that affect the microenvironment. Two points are worth noting at this stage: †¢ Studying the environment allows marketers to take advantage of opportunities as well as to combat threats. †¢ Marketing intelligence and research are used to collect information about the environment. Doordarshan era: Indian small screen programming started majorly in the early 1980s. At that time there was only one national channel Doordarshan, which was government owned. By the late 1980s more and more people started to own television sets. Though there was a single channel, television programming had reached saturation. Hence the government opened up another channel which had part national programming and part regional. This channel was known as DD 2 later DD Metro. Both channels were broadcast terrestrially. Liberalization era: In 1992, the government liberated the industry by opening them up to cable television. Five new channels belonging to the Hong Kong-based STAR TV gave Indians a fresh breath of life. MTV, STAR Plus, Star Movies, BBC, Prime Sports and STAR Chinese Channel were the 5 channels. Zee TV was the first private owned Indian channel to broadcast over cable. A few years later CNN, Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel made their foray into India. Star expanded its bouquet introducing STAR World, STAR Sports, ESPN, Channel V and STAR Gold. Regional channels flourished along with a multitude of Hindi channels and a few English channels. By 2001 HBO and History Channel were the other international channels to enter India. By 1999–2003, other international channels such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, VH1, Disney and Toon Disney came into foray. In 2003 news channels started to boom. The most recent channels that have come up are UTV Movies, UTV Bindass, Zoom, Colours, 9X and 9XM. The growth post-liberalization: Starting with 41 sets in 1962 and one channel, by 1991 TV in India covered more than 70 million homes giving a viewing population of more than 400 million individuals through more than 100 channels. As per the TAM Annual Universe Update – 2010, India now has over 134 million households (out of 223 million) with television sets, of which over 103 million have access to Cable TV or Satellite TV, including 20 million households are DTH subscribers. In Urban India, 85% of all households have a TV and over 70% of all households have access to Satellite, Cable or DTH services. TV owning households have been growing at between 8-10%, while growth in Satellite/Cable homes exceeded 15% and DTH subscribers grew 28% over 2009. It is also estimated that India now has over 500 TV channels covering all the main languages spoken in the nation. A cursory glance at the TV offerings show the kind of diversity that Indian society has –channels for not just different languages, but also serving different niches within the broad umbrella of entertainment, spirituality, news, music & movies. The volatile tastes of India’s TV audience leads to ratings volatility and viewership fragmentation which can put pressure on ad rates, as ad volumes and rates are unlikely to move up simultaneously. Rising ad volumes will dent ad rates; hence, incumbents could see slower top-line growth. In addition we have analyzed the following factors – 1) Lack of entry barriers bringing new competition The pace at which channels are being launched is alarming and indicates the lack of significant entry barriers in television, compared to the stickiness of other media, such as print, where persuading readers to switch to another paper is not as easy as flipping channels. General entertainment channels command a 40% share of the total advertisement pie and have an estimated ad market size of US$1bn and have seen an increase in serious competition over the past few quarters, driven by new launches from entities funded by private equity investors and international media conglomerates 2) Building scale is critical, but could dent earnings momentum The entire broadcast sector wants to expand, as only companies with well-diversified exposure, a broad range of channels and control of strategic assets are well-positioned to fend off competition. This also ensures that advertisers are offered a spectrum of media choices, leading to growth through higher addressable ad volumes and reduced sensitivity to ad rates. This comes at a cost; however, as earnings performance deteriorates during the transition phase, when expansion TV18 is diversifying into unrelated assets, which could lead to significant losses in the initial phase due to lack of immediate synergies and the learning curve, required for reaching breakeven point. 3) Deviation in ad revenues as per the market conditions Research suggests a slowdown in economy directly affects the ad revenues being generated. While a worsening competitive environment, lower liquidity in financial markets and high interest rates can lead to a tough operating environment for broadcasters, we believe that strong market growth and pay revenue streams will ensure their survival of these channels in the near term. 4) Expect acceleration in organized pay revenues Expert estimate India’s organized subscriber base to expand at a 36% CAGR over the next three years, while the unorganized subscription pie is expected to witness a sharp contraction (-7% CAGR) due to ongoing efforts to switch customers onto the organized network. Subscription revenues directly add to profitability and should help broadcasters balance out margins pressure from competition and rising costs. The Genesis – The Launch and its effects Alliance formation between Network 18 Group and Viacom Inc. In May of 2007, the Network 18 Group and Viacom Inc, a New York-based global entertainment content company announced the creation of a 50:50 joint venture operation in India called Viacom 18. The strategic alliance includes television, film and digital media content across numerous brands to build India’s leading multi-platform entertainment company. Launch of Colors TV Channel In-spite of the tough competition and neither partner having any experience in operating a Hindi-language entertainment channel, Studio18, a new-age motion picture brand that produces, acquires and distributes Hindi films launched the Hindi General Entertainment Channel – COLORS on 21st June, 2008. Face Off Against a Decade Long Legacy of Star TV Colors TV Channel was the eleventh entrant into a market space that was already over-crowded and extremely competitive. Not only that, the battle for leadership in this market, which happened to be the Hindi general entertainment genre, the biggest segment in terms of both the viewership share as well as advertising revenue potential, on television had already been fought and won. The Hindi GEC space was dominated by Star plus, Zee and Sony. According to television audience measurement agency TAM Media research, four weeks prior to the launch of the channel, that is in June 2008, Star Plus was the clear leader with 351 GRPs, followed by Zee TV with 226 GRPs and Sony at number three with 102 GRPs. Intense Rivalry for the Second Spot Those at the middle and the bottom rung were not in a comfortable zone either. The other close rivals, Zee TV and Sony Entertainment Television, had been fighting tooth and nail to claim the number two slot but none could hold it for too long. Other New Entrants had Failed Most importantly, the industry response to some new entrants such as 9X and NDTV Imagine had not been too encouraging. And surprisingly, all other channels preceding and succeeding Colors had performed dismally. Colors’ immediate predecessor NDTV Imagine was far from breaking into the top three exclusive club and other new entrants such as 9X and Real, launched by Alva Brothers, of Miditech fame (the television content production company behind popular shows such as Roadies) and Turner International were struggling to keep themselves going. Colors TV Channel exceeded the general expectation setting new records Taking the above factors into account, Colors’ entry in this scenario did not seem like a sound business decision to most in the industry. Most industry watchers wrote it off even before they switched it on. The viewership ratings post-launch: [pic][pic] The viewership ratings after one year of launch [pic] [pic] ? Colors showed the maximum increase in viewership in the seven months preceding its launch. Its launch had expanded the GEC pie by 37%, maximum of which was taken by Colors as seen by the table below: [pic] ? Within 10 weeks Colors managed to gain more than 100 advertisers. The awareness transcended into unprecedented loyalty [pic] The Silver Lining In the past, it has taken a channel six to nine years to break even. Colors, according to the industry watchers, will be breaking even by end of 2010. MARKET ENTRY STRATEGIES OF COLORS (PRE-LAUNCH) 1) Colors – Jasbaat Ke Rang COLORS' is a positioned as a blend of 'emotions' and ‘variety', COLORS promises to offer an entire spectrum of emotions to the viewers that is well captured in its tagline – ‘Jasbaat Ke Rang'. The vibrant colours and leaf design used in the logo brought a new fresh perspective along with. 2) Use of existing network of Network 18 to market Colors Viacom 18 left no stone unturned to market Colors either. For a start, it made a smart use of Network 18’s news channels to cross promote the entertainment channel. 3) Not popularizing fiction shows before the launch To avoid confusing the viewer, it also cleverly pushed only its high-wattage show, and Akshay Kumar. In contrast, 9x advertised all its fiction shows during its launch. Akshay Kumar actually worked almost like a brand ambassador for Colors without the channel really having to rope him in that role. The star’s face helped the channel cut through the clutter. ) Deploying the falling popularity of K serials They also benefited from Star Plus’ own lethargy towards taking quick action against the falling popularity of its K-serials (the family soaps produced by content production house Balaji Telefilms. Since the titles of most shows produced by the company began with letter, K, they were referred to as K-serials) 5) Offering of differentiated TV programs The iron was hot to be stroked. While the popularity of s aas-bahu serials had been falling, Colors came out with a fresh and diversified mix. At one hand was Indian version of Fear Factor hosted by Akshay Kumar and at the other hand was Balika Vadhu based on the female oppression in India. Then, mythological serials, coming after a huge break greatly attracted the viewers. Mothers who were hooked on the Saas-bahu serials started switching channels during the break to check on what stunts the ravishing girls were doing on a particular episode of Khatron Ke Khiladi. The tendency to sneak into Colors Channel gradually developed into a habit for these folks and soon most of them were hooked on to Colors for their daily dose of entertainment in the evening. ) Roping in celebrities like Akshay Kumar To be sure, every aspect of Colors’ launch, be it the distribution, marketing or content had been well thought through. The channel started with only four hours of original programming but it got a competent viewership driver in the form of Khatron Ke Khiladi (KKK), which was hosted by Bollywood hottie Akshay Kumar. Akshay Kum ar was at his prime at that time. Bringing him to the small screen was sure to bring in eyeballs. It was, therefore, a good programming strategy. 7) Different days and timing of airing the programs The reality show Fear Factor was actually aired in Weekdays. Colors’ content head Ashwini Yarde, formerly at Zee, says the channel took a major risk in introducing an action-packed, male-skewed reality show with Akshay Kumar (and 13 daring pretty young things) on weekdays between 10 and 11 pm. It experimented with reality on week days against the popular trend of airing such shows during weekends. Also, it went against the tide as the 10-11 pm slot was historically oriented towards women-centric serials such as Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki and Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. The shows in 7-10 pm band were targeted at kids and non-metros and then at 10pm, they had Fear Factor, which was targeted mainly at metro audience PROMOTION STRATEGIES for the launch: The launch of Colors has seen the most innovative and all-medium encompassing strategy, yet to be seen in this competitive and cluttered space. 1) Tie up with Mumbai Dabbawalas The team also tied up with the famous 250,000 dabbawallahs of Mumbai to plaster the channel’s and its various shows’ logos and snapshots on the tiffin boxes that are distributed among people across the city. 2) Tie up with Barista Lavazza They launched Khatron Ke Khiladi limited edition coffee in association retail chain Barista Lavazza. It was for the first time, a television channel had done such exciting campaigns for itself. 3) Public Relations It was the massive public relations exercise that put Colors on the GEC map. The channel focused sharply on editorial support and ensured that it generated enough reports on the channel. For Bigg Boss, we picked newsmakers and the single-line brief was how these people should be able to move the coverage of Colors from the entertainment pages to the front pages of newspapers ) Real time viewer involvement In a bid to attract and retain viewer interest, GECs are increasingly letting viewers get more and more involved with their various offerings – from selecting the name of a show to deciding on the lead protagonist after a leap in time. Colors’ show ‘Balika Vadhu’ is set to take a time leap and the channel is letting the viewers decide on which of the three actresses shown should become the grown up Anandi, one of television’s most popular characters. Viewers can vote for the new Anandi via SMS. 5) Healthy replacements of programs When KKK went off air after 16 weeks, it was replaced by Bigg Boss, the â€Å"highly-controversial† (by design, say media experts) show hosted by Shilpa Shetty, which is averaging a healthy TVR of 2. 8. 6) Live Hoardings Live hoarding in 20 cities were run for three days to promote another big-ticket show Bigg Boss. 7) Planning to enter merchandising At present, advertising and subscription are the two main sources of revenue for the channel, but the team is contemplating an entry into the merchandising space within the next one year. ) To begin with, it has used all media such as TV, radio, print, websites, mobiles, movie theaters and outdoor for promoting the channel. It has placed  1300 hoardings and launched road shows  across the country. 9) For a more concentrated campaign,  3000 taxis in Mumbai and 2000 auto rickshaws  in small towns along with  local trains and school buses  have been painted with Colors brand. 10) Along with this 65000 ad spots are booked on TV while 15 million SMS have been send across all telecom operators. 11) At  Big Bazaar  stores, helpers and counter-guys are wearing  Colors T-shirts  and giving out information about the channel. 2) In  McDonald’s,  the Colors brand is present on the menu while Fear Factor Khataron Ke Khiladi merchandise is available at  Pantaloons  and McDonalds. 13) For program specific advertising,  Colors has tied up with ISKCON  for promoting its mythological show Jai Sri Krishna at all ISKCON temples. Also, 1000 temples across Hindi speaking states are being used to promote the show by putting banners on banner stalls and giving Krishna merchandise, literature and calendars. 14) For the show Mohe Rang De, Colors has chosen Punjab and Delhi to  organise street plays  as these plays were the maximum witness to freedom struggle. We can summarise the communication strategies based on the the 6 M’s Model of communication: Market General Public MissionTo generate Curiosity about the channel & shows MessageWatch Colors Media TV, Newspapers, Hoardings, Dabbawalas, SMS MoneySpent more than Rs. 50 crore on initial promotion Measurement Initial viewership The marketing and communication strategies seemed to be quite aggressive and innovative but ultimately it was the programming quality and show placement which established its positioning in the Indian television space. Analysing Colors based on marketing framework In this section, we would be looking after the strategizing, segmentation, targeting, positioning of Colors based on established marketing frameworks: 5 C’s of marketing: Collaborators: †¢ Colors channel is a joint venture operation in India between Viacom Inc. and Network18 Group. †¢ Colors, earlier a free to air (FTA) channel, has recently gone pay. †¢ Paid 5-10 % more than the others on cable distribution so that Colors sat between the prime channels †¢ MSM Discovery Private Limited (â€Å"MSMD†) is the designated agent to distribute Colors in India as part of the coveted â€Å"TheOneAlliance† (â€Å"TOA†) bouquet. †¢ IPL ties up with Colors Competitors: †¢ Major competitors: Star Plus, Zee and Sony †¢ Power in the hands of the cable operator †¢ Pay carriage fee to view a channel Company: †¢ Product lines : fiction, mythology, reality †¢ Image in the market: entered as a challenger, now leader †¢ Skills: innovative content, disruptive scheduling †¢ Goal: to be a profitable market leader Customers: †¢ Created thought provoking subject-based shows like Balika Vadhu, Uttaran and Na Ana Is Des Laado †¢ Reality shows with a difference like Khatron Ke Khiladi, Big Boss and now the latest BINGO †¢ Gives the viewers an expanded choice Scientific scheduling for eg: Balika Vadhu (multiple entry points) Context: †¢ Political issues: notice was sent to Colors Channel for allegedly portraying the character of a district magistrate in negative light in the serial. †¢ Social Issues: shocking scenes of a girl child being immersed in a big bowl of milk , created a social outburs t †¢ Extra working hours of the children SWOT Analysis: Strengths †¢ Shows from all walks of life †¢ A fresh outlook on everything New themes and Ideas Weakness †¢ Strong competitors †¢ A new channel with teething problems †¢ Trying to capture an already captivated part of audience Opportunity A lot of untapped market †¢ A new generation with different taste in TV †¢ Brand Loyalty in Indians Threats †¢ Failure †¢ Immediate acceptance †¢ Difficulty in looking for new grounds †¢ Copy Cats Marketing Mix: Product †¢ Innovative Daily soaps touching altogether different emotional buds of women viewers Price †¢ Prices offered to advertisers were very attractive as the channel got more than 100 advertisers within 2 months of its launch Place †¢ Viacom18 is said to have given away Rs 100 crore as carriage fee for a year to get the best band for its channel Promotion Innovative promotion Analyzing consumer behavior and developing targeting strategies: The TV consumer of today, unlike that of the Doordarshan era is exposed to various programs and content formats. With profusion of interactive social media, all kinds of TV shows, movies, user generated content, nation and culture specific content is available at a click. Again with increasing march towards a global economy, retail boom in the form of super markets, increasing foray of global brands and culture, the young consumer of today is vastly different from the old. They are more demanding, time-pressed, seek instant gratification and look for fresh content. IPTV is the future of TV industry. At the same time, any GEC cannot ignore the women-centric content and in a nation of diversity and high religious sensibilities, mythological content too is needed. We try to understand these and various other factors to understand the consumer behavior central to Colors in particular and Hindi GEC in general. TARGETING †¢ Identification of markets with unfulfilled needs and trying to tap them. Some examples include socially sensitive issues, mythology & saas-bahu serials with a difference †¢ Discovering segments on the basis of consumer characteristics and ascertaining their potential. Colors has very aptly identified the difference between ‘Bharat’ and ‘India’ and designed contents to appeal to both. †¢ Differentiating product offering from competitors – Colors has successfully offered and marketed differentiated content with intelligent scheduling. Also they have been very quick in striking deals with latest Bollywood movies. We will look at the differentiation strategy in detail in the following sections. Creating a distinctive positioning in the minds of consumers – A mixture of both program content and promotional strategies has really situated the brand as one appealing to both youth and the family and created an image of one with the freshest perspective. SEGMENTATION The various parameters on which the market can be segmented is : Age †¢ 15-24 years – They are the key viewers especially in single family households. Reality and youth shows have really appealed to this section. †¢ Lady of the house – She is attracted to fiction and afternoon slots are designed keeping their tastes in mind Urban/Rural Target Bharat – The target is skewed towards smaller towns with 7-9 pm slots. †¢ India – Metro-centric focus in slots of 9-10 pm. Product Offerings: Having the segment and their behavior in mind, let us look at the major product offerings clubbed under three heads: †¢ Fiction: eg. Balika Vadhu,Uttaran, Na aana iss des laado †¢ Reality shows: eg. Khatron ke Khiladi, Big boss, National Bingo night †¢ Mythology: Jai shri Krishna, Mahavir hanuman Differentiation: The following table list some factors which has helped Colors differentiate itself from the other GECs | Other channels |Colors | |Started with regular fiction shows |Yes |No | |Starte d with 2 reality shows with a bang |No |Yes | |Promoted only 1 show on launch |No |Yes (KKK) | |Brand Ambassador |Mostly No |Yes | |Started socially sensitive shows |No |Yes | |Reality shows on weekends |Yes |No | Positioning: Positioning is how the brand is situated in the perceptual space of the consumer. So it is their perception which is of paramount importance here and not the intended position. So to understand the positioning it was essential that we go to the consumers. We floated an online survey to understand the perception consumers have of various Hindi GECs across various parameters. But still to get the other perspective we list below some intended positioning factors driving Colors: ? Colors. An arbitrary name at first glance, this is a self-descriptive. The use of the plural form itself distinguishes itself as a general entertainment channel – one which caters to multiple audiences. This is further emphasized by its tagline ‘Jasbaat Ke Rang’ (The colours of emotion) – which promises the shows that will target the entire spectrum of viewers. ? The logo also provides some intended positioning insights. In every society yellow is associated with the sun – and hence optimism, warmth and happiness. Pink is youthful, fun and exciting. Purple, a mix of the passionate red and tranquil blue, evokes mystery, spirituality and sentimentality. The leaf motif, is a connection to earth and a acknowledgment of roots and natural origin. The Viacom 18 rejoinder at the bottom of the logo indicates an effort by the promoters to promote the parent brand (something they have not done with their other offerings: MTV, Nick and VH1). Usually the name of such an established parent adds to the credibility of the offering and in this case also reflects the aggression and pace with which the brand plans to march ahead. ? The tagline of the channel is ‘Jasbaat Ke Rang’ signifying the universal appeal of its programmes. ADVERTISING POLICIES After the product, its promotion and even the distribution has been put in place, comes the question of earning the bread and butter. In India, more than 80% of most television channels’ revenues come from advertising. Colors TV Channel was launched at a time when global economic downturn had already set in and it had begun to impact the Indian market as well. †¢ Advertisers had begun holding their purse strings tight. Yet, within weeks of its launch, the channel had most premium advertisers on board. †¢ One thing that the team at Colors responsible for raising advertising was clear about was: It would not sell its ad slots cheap even if it meant, not getting any advertising. †¢ To sell advertising inventory in the kind of market that C olors stepped in wasn’t easy. There were rivals who were ready to cut their rates to wean away advertisers and the economic scenario also wasn’t too encouraging. They had done their home work before they stepped into the market. They did a lot of number crunching, decided on some rates and held on to them. Demanding premium rates may have been rendered easier by the good work done by the channel’s content creation team. They actually went in with lower inventories and did not sign the deals till they got their price. AD rates and Sources of Revenues: In general, the AD rates for various TV News channels range from Rs 2,500 to Rs. 8,000 and for the popular shows on GECs like Star, Zee, Sony the range will be from 1. 5 to 3 lakhs. These rates are for a ten second slot and they vary too as per the volume, duration, past records of the media buying agencies and advertisers. But as we have seen in the discussion above, Colors so far has successfully commanded premium rates. †¢ Brands such as Garnier Men Deodorant, Vodafone, Micromax Mobiles, Tic Tac (from Italy's Ferrero Group) and Sony Bravia are riding on Khatron Ke Khiladi (KKK3)–a stunt reality show. †¢ Title sponsorship for high-decibel celebrity shows–such as Bigg Boss to be anchored by Salman Khan on Colors fetch '15-20 crore. †¢ Associate sponsorships for such shows are kept at 7-8 crore †¢ Celebrity backed reality shows command higher rates than soaps †¢ On average, a 10-second ad spot on a top-rated reality show sold for between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh compared with the Rs 1-1. lakh a spot of similar length that's sold for a TV soap †¢ Another revenue earning mode in reality TV this year was in-branding of products in the shows. Networks usually charge a 200-300 per cent premium above regular advertising rates for product placements in reality shows. On offer are: passive product shots (with no interaction with the brand); an active placement (with limited interaction or activity around the brand); or a hyperactive placement (an aggressive use of product) in the show. Charges 5 to 10 lakhs DISTRIBUTION POLICIES OF COLORS As per a Delhi-based cable operator, â€Å"Distribution, in fact, is the most crucial element to the success of a television channel in today’s time,† says. A channel may have the best of content and it may burn a huge amount of money in promoting it, but if the channel doesn’t reach viewers, which means if the distribution is not in place, all these efforts will yield a naught. † Colors TV Channel has handled the distribution conundrum very well. Using its sharp distribution plan, Colors reached 36. 4 million viewers in its launch week. By end of 2009, Colors claims to have the maximum reach with 72. 5 million viewers in the GEC space . Promotional policies followed by Colors on its l aunch: †¢ It was an encrypted pay channel with a free-to-air window for first six months †¢ This was done to allow its viewers to sample it and be noticed Colors also distributed its channel by itself as gives them more flexibility in their operations. †¢ They planned to be seen in over 50 per cent of the cable homes from day one †¢ They were also to be present across the existing and the new direct-to-home (DTH) platforms. †¢ It was also encrypted on BizAsia. co. uk and hence increased its penetration throughout the world †¢ It is also available on Sky Digital channel 829. The channel in the UK and USA is being endorsed by Bollywood legend, Amitabh Bachchan. †¢ Viacom’s distribution strategy can be held to be 99 per cent responsible for the success of Colors. †¢ Colors have given away Rs 100 crore as carriage fee for a year to get the best band for its channel. Its budget was clearly much higher than the Rs 40-60 crore that NDTV Imagine and 9x reportedly invested in distribution. †¢ On 1st April, 2009, Colors’ became a paid channel, and its viewership fell. It lost market share from 298 GRPs to 292 but overall with a sustained rise in its share, it managed to beat Star Plus in the week ended 11 April, 2009 Pricing Policy 1. Colors charge around Rs21 each, excluding 10% service tax and it paid a hefty carriage fee of more than Rs90 crore to distributors when it was launched INTERNATIONAL FORAY †¢ On 21 January 2010, Colors became available on Dish Network in the US, where it is called Aapka Colors (Respectfully your Colors) because of a clash with Colours TV. Amitabh Bachchan served as brand ambassador for the UK and USA launches. †¢ Colors launched in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Sky on 25 January 2010. On 9 December 2009, INX Media confirmed that Colors had bought 9XM's Sky EPG slot on channel 829 and on 5 January 2010, Colors secured a deal to join the VIEWASIA subscription package. EPG tests began on 4 January 2010 using the 9XM stream, followed by Colors' own video and audio on 8 January. Initially the channel was available free-to-air and then subsequently was added to the VIEWASIA package on 19 April 2010. FIRST IN INTERNET TELEVISION †¢ â€Å"Colors† is the first ever global launch of an entertainment channel on IPTV. With colors, Viacom 18 has made its foray into the IPTV sector which will certainly be one of the biggest distribution mediums, with worldwide reach, in the near future. †¢ The launch has been made possible by a partnership between Viacom 18 and The New Media Group which owns â€Å"World-On- demand† IPTV platform. According to Sanjev Hiremath, Sr. Vice President, Network Development, and Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd. Areas of concern: Despite the positive hype and sustained interest in its offerings, the reach of Colors in India is almost as wide as that of its competitors. Falling viewership shares 443 GRPs! That’s a number you usually associate with a channel that airs a cricketing extravaganza like the ‘Indian Premier League’ or the cricket world cup. However, this staggering number belongs to Star Plus that has extended its supremacy over other channels. Colors stands a distant second with 271 GRPS, followed by Zee TV (231) and Sony (125), according to the TAM data week 25 (June 13-19). [pic]Buzz up! Buzz up! The 443 GRPs is the highest by a Hindi GEC in the last 159 weeks. The previous record was held by the same channel too. The path ahead: 1. Maintain/increase market share 2. Continue with innovative content 3. Collaborate with diverse content providers from other countries to design and introduce new format shows and serials. 4. Exclusive screening of tele- films, short films at a particular slot to cater to a niche audience

Crimes against information system analysis

Cyber crime or computer crime is a type of crime that occurs through the internet. This type o f crime has become very common in modern times and many people have been conned money and other valuables. This kind of crime has grown to be high profile to the extent that governments around the world are devising and implementing strategies and policies in a move to curb this kind of crime. Some of the most common types of internet crime include financial theft, fraud, intellectual property theft, industrial espionage, spamming, spread of computer virus, software hacking among others (Grabosky, 2006).This paper will review the Nigerian Money Scams also called Advanced Fees Fraud or 419 Scams. The Nigerian scam is one of the most popular types of internet scam around the globe. It has been described as the widest ranging, cleverly planned and bizarre fraud schemes in the world in the recent years. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Interpol and Scotland Yard describe it as prepos terous, amateurish and plainly crude (Lohr, 1992). The scam involves the sending of bogus letters with a promise of big pay offs.The target of this fraud usually receives an Email that claims to be from Nigeria or another West African country. Initially its target was businessmen but these days, the target also includes average citizens due to the low cost associated with email communication and transactions. The content of the email includes an illegal proposal, a money laundering proposal or a legitimate and legal business proposal. It includes offers of help whereby the sender wants some assistance in shipping out oil from Nigeria, romance, some supposedly deposited money in your account, a bequest left a will in your name.Others include claims overpayment of a contract by the Nigeria Government and therefore a need of a front man to get the overpayment out of Nigeria or an invite to transfer a huge amount of money, usually in US Dollars to your personal offshore account (Nigeria n scams, 2000). After the recipient of this message responds positively, the sender then proceeds to advice him what else he requires to do. The purpose of the initial letter is to set the stage and is considered the opening ground to test the waters.Goal of the criminal The main intention of the criminal is to confuse you into thinking that whatever you are being drawn into is a lucrative business opportunity and a highway into instant riches. Even though, the arrangement appears questionable but very few people look at it that way. Therefore the first letter makes sure that the recipient is left with no doubts and that he or she is assured, and confident of the fact that the deal will be very success and that he is not in no way risking himself or herself.The allegations presented by these scammers are in such a way that you will be naturally cautious but deep down you, you will be praying softly and wanting hopefully that the deal is genuine. Another element associated with these emails is a sense of urgency (Gill, 2005). Either that the government is closing in or that the job of the sender is at risk. Therefore, his request is that the deal may be closed as son as possible. Their methodology is that they make sure that the recipient of the mail counts him or herself lucky because he has been singled out from billions of people the world over.And so as much as this deal may look suspicious, the receipt is left with the urge of gaining millions of shillings for doing what? Absolutely nothing. Even to the most skeptical people, they take the next step or sending an email, which will not cost you any risk at all and in return, might make you a multi millionaire. The feeling that being a rich man is only an email away is what makes people respond to this mail. After making that call or sending the email, the sender pleads with you to make this as secret as possible because he or she is taking a great risk in communicating with you.He emphasizes on the secrecy in that any disclosure might lead to the transaction of the transfer of funds being incomplete. As the recipient, you don’t see any harm in maintaining secrecy, confidentiality, utmost sense of purpose and maturity as it is what it will be asked of you by the sender (Lohr, 1992). After this communication, documents actually arrive to you. Official documents from the central bank of Nigeria together with documents from the firm of your newly appointed Nigerian lawyers. This is what convinces most people of the authenticity of the proposal as they contain the Nigerian Government Letter head (Gill, 2005).After you are satisfied of the authenticity of the transaction, you are then asked to pay some money to cater for unexpected taxes or contract fees demanded by the central bank of Nigeria, transfer of funds fees or fees to cater for the attorneys acting on your behalf. The sender assures you that those are things that he is not in control of. For example, he may tell you that th e lawyers want 5% of the whole money or $200,000 in advance in order to continue with the transfer. Being a wise person, you smell a rat and say no way.It is then after sometime that the sender contacts you again and tells you that he has been able to negotiate with the lawyers and they have brought down their fees to say $100,000. He convinces you that it is nothing compared to what you two are going to gain. But since you are a wise person, you say no way (Lohr, 1992). It is then that he calls you again and tells that even though he is a poor guy, he is ready to sell his only house to raise $30,000 if you are in a position of raising the rest. He cannot forget to remind you that it is a loan he has advanced to you and that you will refund it to him once you receive the money.Here, you see the commitment and you ultimately send the money and you wait for your cash. You even start planning for holiday. After two days, you are informed that there have been some few problems and that the inside man is asking for a small bribe. After paying the initial amount, you become the ultimate milk cow. More requests start coming your way for you to send in more money. At this juncture, you are faced with two options: either send more money as demanded or risk loosing the promised millions and the money you have already sent.In this way, you are a prey and tens or even hundreds of dollars may be swindled from you (Gill, 2005). Each amount of money that you send is regarded as the last amount but eventually, there rises some ‘temporary difficulties’, ‘errors’ or ‘complications’ that you are prompted to solve. This may go on for months until you run out of money or until you give up. But these scammers will not stop there. If you show signs of giving up, they remind you of the ultimate prize awaiting you. The asking of these â€Å"advance fees† is the ultimate objective of this scam.That’s why it is referred to as the Adva nce Fees Fraud (Gill, 2005). Once a victim has sent in more and more cash, he gets hooked up to the scam and the more he believes that it is not a scam but that it is a real deal. The denial of most victims that they have been conned is what drives them to make just one more payment and their windfall happens (Nigerian Scams, 2000). There are even instances whereby one is invited to Nigeria and you are taken through real or fake government offices. The fake government offices include many government support staff and you are left with no doubt.In some instances, victims have confessed going to the directory, looking up the number of the alleged government officiate and finding it there. On calling, it is received by the very same person who he has been in contact with. There are some victims who have been invited to go to Nigeria. They are told that a Visa is not necessary and in that case, they bribe an airport official for you to enter Nigeria. On entering you are told that it is illegal to be in Nigeria without a passport (which is true) and this is used to coerce more money from you (Lohr, 1992). Mechanism to discourage these crimesThe federal bureau of investigations has but in some mechanisms in bid to stop these fraudsters. The FBI has warned the public to be wary and not fall into this trick. In this regard, the public has been warned to be skeptical of any email or letter from persons claiming to be Nigerian government officials or any other foreigner asking for help with regard to transfer of large sums of money. The public has also been advised not to believe in the promise of large sums of money once they cooperate (FBI, 2010). Many countries have put in legislations that require citizens to report any form of 419 emails.In general, the governments all over the world are committed to ending this vice. There have also been developments of Internet Technologies which aim at stemming the advancement of the Nigerian Advanced Fee Fraud scams. Through th e use of this technology, law enforcement officers are in a position to cooperate internationally and therefore are able to track these scammers, obtain the necessary evidence and prosecuting them (Lohr, 1992). References FBI. (2010). Internet Fraud. Retrieved August 19, 2010 from http://www. fbi. gov/majcases/fraud/internetschemes. htm. Gill, P. (2005). About. Com. The Top ten internet/ Email Scams.Retrieved August 19, 2010 from http://netforbeginners. about. com/od/scamsandidentitytheft/ss/top10inetscams. htm Grabosky, P. (2006). Electronic Crime, New Jersey: Prentice Hall http://www. nytimes. com/1992/05/21/business/nigerian-scam-lures-companies. html. Lohr, S. (1992). Nigerian Scam' Lures Companies. Nigerian Advanced Fee Fraud Detection, Education, Eradication. The New York Times. Retrieved August 19, 2010 from http://www. nextwebsecurity. com/ Nigerian scams. (2000). Schemes, Scams and frauds. Retrieved August 19, 2010 from http://www. crimes-of-persuasion. com/Crimes/Business/ nigerian. htm.

Research and development, technological innovation, competitive Essay

Research and development, technological innovation, competitive advantage, etc - Essay Example Some of the key milestones in the company’s history are shown in the timeline below (Reckitt & Benckiser, 2014a): Technological innovation may be described as the continuous process of engaging with the internal and external environment of the organization to discover more profitable and efficient ways of marketing knowledge. It results in the creation of new products, processes and marketing methods. Technological innovation may be defined as â€Å"the process beginning from the idea of a new concept to the success in a meaningful way of the practical application of the idea for non-technical phenomenon (Liu et al., 2010, p. 6).† In contrast to R&D, technological innovation is not restricted to laboratory work and is not necessarily performed by scientists. Technological innovation can be performed by everybody in the organization by identifying potential problems and taking initiative at solving them. Reckitt & Benckiser depends on continuous R&D and innovation to develop new and innovative products and compete effectively in the marketplace. According to Forbes magazine (2012), it is the fifth most innovative company in Europe and sells more than 20 million units in 2010 in the categories of health, hygiene and home. The company maintains a policy that 30% of the annual revenue should derive from products developed in the last three years (Reckitt & Benckiser, 2014). In 2008, the company spent  £102 million in R&D which had gone up to  £119 million in the following year. However, during 2010 and 2011 the spending had declined to  £33 and  £26 million respectively. In 2012, the spending had increased again to  £171 million. According to Hughes and Mina (2012), the United Kingdom is a laggard when it comes to R&D spending. The percentage of GDP spent on R&D has declined in recent years. Hughes and Mina (2012) note that the ten biggest organizations make up 34% of R&D expenditure in the UK

Presentation Speech or Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Speech or Presentation Example Clinical depression is almost always treatable. Drugs are prescribed which can provide relief to a patient within a span of few weeks or may take up to a couple of months to show results. In cases of less chronic depression psychotherapy, either individual or group, has been found to be an effective treatment for mood disorders. The three major types of depression are Major depression, Dysthymia and Bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is also known as manic-depressive illness. In such a condition a person has cyclic mood changes. The mood swings from severe high to severe low. The three different forms of clinical depression are Physical, Behavioral and Emotional. In the Physical form of clinical depression a person tends to have sleep- related disorders, changes in eating pattern, low levels of energy and fatigue. In behavioral depression people tend to derive less joy from hitherto pleasurable activities. In such cases the sufferer finds it difficult to take decisions, remember thin gs and lacks concentration. They neglect taking care of their appearance and do not take-up responsibilities. Emotional depression is characterized by suicidal thoughts, feelings of hopelessness and guilt. They cry for no apparent reason and feel persistently sad for two weeks or more. In assessing and treating such a condition, Hood and Johnson (1991) state that â€Å"assessment is an integral part of counseling...[and] provides information that can be used in each step of the problem-solving model† (p. 11). Sommers-Flanagan, J and Sommers-Flanagan (2009) in their outstanding book on Counseling state that before and during the assessment process ethical considerations should be adhered to. Assessment - In trying to make an assessment of the level of depression the individual has, I made use of the Goldberg Depression Questionnaire. Instructions - Though the Goldberg scale cannot take the place of professional help in detecting or diagnosing depression, yet it could act as a good guide in tracking an individual’s moods on a regular basis. However, in case the person knows for sure that they are depressed, it is better to reach out for help from a mental health professional. Assessment Scenario - The patient makes a visit and complains of being severely disturbed, anxious and irritable and requests for professional help. I make her lie down and relax and try to elicit some answers making use of the Goldberg Depression Questionnaire to make a proper assessment. There are 18 questions based on how the patient felt in the past week and the patient is asked to tick the relevant box that is nearest to what they felt. The answers received using the Goldberg Questionnaire, from the patient were as follows – 1. I do things slowly – moderately 2. My future seems hopeless – Somewhat 3. It’s hard for me to concentrate on reading – Just a little 4. The pleasure and joy has gone out of my life – Quite a lot 5. I have d ifficulty making decisions – Quite a lot 6. I have lost interest in aspects of life that used to be important to me – Quite a lot 7. I feel sad, blue, and unhappy – Quite a lot 8. I am agitated and keep moving around – Very much 9. I feel fatigued – Quite a lot 10. It takes great effort for me to do simple things – Moderately 11. I feel like I’m a guilty person who needs to be punished – Somewhat 12. I feel like a failure –

Assignment 5-2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Assignment 5-2 - Essay Example Mistakes are relatively low on cost and therefore, less serious. Creative or lateral thinking is an alternative perspective on the situation; and thus the problem and solution states can be interpreted differently from how most people see it. This leads to an alternate style of responding to the problem. A novel solution can often seem more interesting, and people are likely to become involved in the process with more enthusiasm; thereby leading to a greater chance for success. Which style of information processing should be used in a given situation or is more likely to succeed should be chosen carefully by the person seeking to solve a problem they face in the workplace. In the present scenario, vertical processing and problem solving techniques were used to resolve a reoccurring problem in the office. It was noted that attendance of employees dropped drastically when there was a particular type of sporting event involving major regions or the country. During the previous sport sea son, there was a distinct drop in the productivity of the set-up. When another season was due; this history became a major concern for the manager. It was decided that a few key employees should be involved in finding a solution to the problem of reduced productivity. Upon discussion, it was found that the younger employees are more likely to want to take a day of to watch sports. After this conversation, it was decided that certain key playing days should be announced half – day working on the promise that other day’s would not be affected. Accordingly, a notice was circulated amongst the staff so that they feel motivated enough to come for the rest of the days without taking an unannounced (impromptu) holiday. On understanding the process of using lateral thinking it was believed that there could be other alternatives to the solution to this problem. First of all the assumptions made when evaluating the problem were tested. The manager found that the assumption that all productivity dropped on these target days was untrue. Only certain members of the staff were implicated in this situation. The other assumption that distraction was due to the game was also challenged, since the rest of the staff was not interested in abstaining from coming to work, or working at the same level a s any other day. If a reasonable number of staff were not planning to watch sports, they could easily continue work. But it is rather unfair to give free time only to a few employees because they want to watch a sport. Thus, a more right question needs to be asked by the manager as to what options are there so that it is a win – win situation for all. A new and alternate approach to the situation is to tune the cafeteria television to the Sports channel, and allow the employees watch the game for its said time-period. This option, though unconventional, at least keeps the employees at work, and only those who wish to see them do view the sports. Also, in the even t that another employee needs them to be around when getting a task done; this work will not stagnate due to the unavailability of the employee in question. Although any screen which can be connected to the office can be used to relay the match to the employees; it makes logical sense to select the one in the cafeteria, as the noise and cheering will not trouble other employees who may not be interested in the game. The vertical process comes most naturally to most employees, since

Conference week 5 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Conference week 5 - Assignment Example However, the type of organizational chart illustrated for Walt Disney is a chart based on a process, for instance, all the staff positions are responsible for the support of the Company’s workflow. The Functional Organizational Structure of the Walt Disney Company has some likable characteristics. For instance, it does not have too many management levels. This indicates that its organizational structure is effective. In addition, another likable characteristic is that the modeling of chart in such a way that all the staff positions have the responsibility of ensuring a smooth workflow. Certainly, the organizational chart adopted by Walt Disney Company depicts some form of creativity and is very effective. It is therefore, the best chart that suits the company. In the business world, one of the greatest arguments has been on whether projected financial statement analysis can be considered to be both a formulation of strategy and implementation tool of a strategy. Generally, financial statement analysis can be considered as a vital tool in implementation technique of a strategy. This is because it gives an organization the opportunity of examining the anticipated results of a variety of approaches and activities. This type of financial analysis can also be used in the prediction of a range of implementation decisions made. For instance, in the cases where an organization desires to ensure a 50% elevation of promotion expenditures purposely to ensure the support to the strategy of market development. Additionally, this it is also applicable in the case where an organization desires to ensure a 25% salary increase so that it can support its market-penetration strategy. Moreover, this analysis can also be beneficial to an organization that des ires to elevate the expenditures on research and development by 70% so as to

Analyze what Takaki means by the racialization of savagery. How did it Essay

Analyze what Takaki means by the racialization of savagery. How did it influence crosscultural relations between Europeans and Native Americans and transplan - Essay Example Takaki meant that racialization of savagery is how one defines the multi-cultural diversity confined in the country that time. It's the political correctness that seemed to hug the essence of scholars and literary greats that was. It is the greed and hope and the changing demographics we have only seen recently but happened to unfold throughout history shaping its people in the process. The very boundlessness of this ethnic and racial difference generated a need to impose interior borders. The idea of preserving racial homogeneity while becoming a multicultural society baffled the policymakers of the new nation. Thus, the introduction of trade opened the market for interaction, perspectives and views that helped fuel multiculturalism and its ensuing debates. Cohesiveness in a society and its norms were preserved to be later handed down to generations ahead. Cross-cultural relationships were formed and various frontiers we... Assumptions are born and labels are attached to the non-conforming to be "accepted" against the standards of that time. A need for others to confirm identity to what one is not has become rampant so long as acceptance followed. Typical European influence early on played a major part against Native Americans and several other fair-skinned or darker skinned peoples believing that black was heathen, foul, stained, dirty, vile, barbaric, and without god or laws, while white symbolized goodness, purity and innocence. Laws and trade and treaties were made to favor white people and punishments were harsher for black or darker skinned citizens. Being made to believe they were natural slaves, even then, multi-culturalism was prevalent but was ignored or subdued, and was set apart as minorities and lower-class citizens. The European assumption prevailed and the English-American identity was defined as black conscious and white favoring. The integration of historical studies to the current cultural and societal issues relate the origins and differences as well as views, patterns and themes that speak to each individual and subliminally suggest or influence his/her outward behavior towards an ethnic or socially different group or individual stems from the past. His acceptance of a people or not is dictated by a lot of factors that may or may not be the general idea accepted now but a reflection of how his race shaped his personality. Injustice, mainly evidenced through the early legal system, injustice in cultural and religious identity, and injustice in the most basic of human interaction, money. The book, and the author described the stark discrimination by the Anglo (white) race played against races that were

What do you expect to get from your electives for your subject Essay

What do you expect to get from your electives for your subject - Essay Example All of these categories are essential to our learning. Our minor courses serve as refreshment for us not to forget the basic know how of education. They are like touches of the foundation of every aspect of study. Our major subjects are essential for us to master our chosen fields of study. Finally, we have our elective subjects which give us additional knowledge and make us understand our major field better. To begin discussing what an elective subject is, let me begin with its brief definition. Elective subjects are subjects that a student chooses to deepen knowledge or skill in a particular area. This can be from another related major (UTS: Engineering FAQ, 2007). From this definition, we can conclude why students need to take up elective subjects. It is a well known fact that every field of knowledge is interrelated and interconnected with each other. Therefore, one should have an understanding of the different areas in connection with his/her major. This will give a person a wider perception of things he/she should be acquainted with in his area of specialization. As an example, you cannot expect someone to be a good doctor in the future without the basic understanding of anatomy or a background about biology. This is true in any other areas of study whether it is in the field of science or engineering. With regards to my course, I would like to extract it from point to point. The definition of Mechanical Engineering is the broadest among all other kinds of engineering (â€Å"What is†). The simplest and shortest, on the other hand, that can be found on any other internet site is the application of scientific and mathematical principles to practical ends such as the design, manufacture, and operation of operation of efficient and economical structures, machines, processes, and systems (â€Å"Engineering†). It sounds simple as it seems from the definition. On the contrary, this major is interconnected and interrelated to all

Advocacy Grantmaking and civic organizations Essay

Advocacy Grantmaking and civic organizations - Essay Example Presently, thousands of advocacy, grant making and civic organizations have been formed primarily to serve the different groups and societies. In United States, these kinds of organizations exist in all states and are working with an aim of bettering the lives of the communities by openly addressing issues that afflict the people through service, civic engagements and independent actions. The organizations are diverse spanning the political field of ideas and entail all aspects of human interest including environmental conservation, homeless shelters advocates and day care centers (Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, 2010). There are also organizations that address people’s concerns through sports and while others stands for the rights of particular groups in the society such as the rights of employees or a social group. Advocacy, grant making and civic organizations are collectively known as collectively known as nonprofits, not-for-profit sector, independent sector, third sector, philanthropic sector, social sector or the voluntary sector. The paper will explore different groups within the nonprofit sector and the issues they addressed. Moreover, it will assess the work environment in the industry (Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, 2010). All the non-profit organizations are established to serve the interests of its members. However, all the organizations have varying goals which are used to categorize them. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics categorizes the non-profit industry into four segments: business, labor, professional, political and related organizations; social and civic organizations; social advocacy organizations and grant making and giving services. Business, professional, labor, political and allied organizations is the largest segment in the non-profit sector and offered approximately 423, 300 jobs in May 2004 as was

Hobbes and Lockes Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Hobbes and Lockes - Term Paper Example This section compares and contrasts Hobbes’ and Locke’ political theories on the nature of consent and contracts, where they have similar beliefs because they both think that consent is needed to form valid contracts. Hobbes and Locke share similar views on why consent and contracts are needed to cope with the State of Nature. Consent means that people are willing to leave the State of Nature to form a civil society that will serve communal needs and interests. Hobbes asserts that a covenant is needed to create a civil society that evades the State of Nature. He employs several terms to explain the roles of citizens and the Sovereignty in civil society. He uses the understanding of consent in relation to the status of the Sovereign as an Artificial Person by showing, that, by public consent, someone becomes an Artificial Person that has greater power than a natural person. Hobbes describes a person as someone â€Å"... ... Hobbes argues that the Secondary State of Nature can allow the making of a valid contract because it concerns obligations and includes God as the source of enforcing power of laws: â€Å"All therefore that can be done between two men not subject to Civil Power is to put one another to swear by the God he feareth.† Because of their belief in God, they can agree on making and following a contract. Apart from fear of the State of War, Hobbes maintain that people have to give consent to create contracts. He notes that the covenant binds people upon their recognition of the Common-wealth: â€Å"I Authorize and give up my Right of Governing myself, to this Man, or to this Assembly of men, on this condition, that thou give up thy Right to him, and Authorize all his Actions in like manner.† People do not want to be completely alienated from each other despite the State of War, so it becomes relevant for them to confer authority on the Common-wealth as a binding Covenant. Their consent allows them to produce a Commonwealth and to accept their Sovereign ruler. Likewise, Locke believes that people consent to the social contract first before it becomes valid, and like Hobbes, he notes that people do not want a State of War, so they want to enter a civil society. Hobbes and Locke agree that consent is needed to form valid contracts and that when people are coerced to form contracts, these contracts are invalid. Hobbes says: â€Å"The cause of Feare, which maketh such a Covenant invalid, must be alwayes something arising after the Covenant made.† Locke confirms that consent must not be forced, or else, the contract is voided. Locke further believes that consent can be tacit or express; however, consent must be express to fully participate in the government. He stresses that

Food Is More Than What We Eat Essay Example for Free

Food Is More Than What We Eat Essay The food we consume everyday has more to it than a source of fuel and part of our human essentials. Though we may not realise, food plays a part of many people’s culture, religion and even employment, where food plays a significant role in their everyday lives. Today, food serves a fairly major role in our society. Due to globalisation and other global factors, there has now been a mix and harmonious diversity in cultures around the world and food is one of the main evidence of that. This can just be seen by walking to your local stores where there are at least two or more food stores/ restaurants from different cultures. This is particularly evident in Australia, as immigrants from across the globe bring with them to Australia their cultures, beliefs and lifestyles to their new homes- with food being one of them. Many of these different cultures are now welcomed, accepted and shared, which provides employment for many people. This is not only evident in the Western continents, but many other Asian countries, where you would see many restaurants, snacks stores and street stores. Food is also used to distinguish the ‘classes of certain groups and/or areas. For example, in the city where there are more higher classed people, majority of the restaurants and cuisines tend to be a lot more expensive than those in the outer suburban areas. The functions of food in cultures vary between cultures, but majority of the time plays a significant role. There are different beliefs and morals, religious and food rules/ etiquettes that are associated with food of different cultures. An example of a food belief/moral would be in China noodles represent longevity, therefore it should not to be broken off or bitten off but put all into your mouth to chew to swallow. Food has not only been applied in beliefs and morals, but also religion. This can be seen in the Buddhism, where vegetarian dietary is preferred for serious believers. Sometimes food etiquette is incorporated into the religious side of food. For example in China it is considered extremely rude and impolite to stick your chopsticks upright in your rice as it is how it appears in funerals and is disrespectful to the elderly. The use of food in traditions and celebrations is another way to show how food has a deeper meaning that being sustenance. Traditions vary between cultures, but even families and individuals. Everyone has their own ‘style’ that they live with and pass on to their family who if they decide to continue the tradition passes on to future generations. Some of these traditions in terms of culture can be having rice has your main staple for most Asian cultures, while in Australia they have many different staples ranging from bread to grain foods. Food is also a big role player in celebrations. Many cultures have special foods that are only eaten or mostly eaten on certain days or events. For example in China on Chinese New Year, moon cakes are eaten, while in Australia, citizens have BBQs on Australia Day and eat ANZAC biscuits on ANZAC day. Food has also been a reason for unity of people. People like to eat whether it is at home or in restaurants in groups, where they not only enjoy the food together but can also start up conversations. For some families during dinner time may be the only time where they sit together and talk about their day. On a larger scale, food and global factors has allowed people of different backgrounds and cultures to accept and understand each other’s cultures. As previously mentioned, where we can now have food that are not from your culture. Because of food being eaten by many cultures, there are modifications to some foods so that more people can eat them. For example, there are now many vegetarian foods such as vegetarian pies and noodles for people with vegetarian diets.

An enquiry into the use of Assessment for Learning

An enquiry into the use of Assessment for Learning Since the Education Reform Act (1988), introduced national testing to monitor school standards of education assessment has continued to play a major part in the educational delivery in schools. Assessment encompasses all aspects of teaching that measure the level of teaching through students understanding and achievement. Assessment is not just end of year examinations but an on-going process that should be present in teaching at all times in order for lessons to be effective. Through several studies (Assessment Reform Group (ARG), 2002; Black et al, 2003; Clark, 2005) it has become evident that through careful planning of assessment it is possible to promote students learning and motivation, by using a more formative approach as opposed to high stakes testing of summative assessment. It is often noted that teachers ask questions to check students understanding of the lesson but take a simple acknowledgement as a valid indication that learning has occurred. Students are often not confident or willing to identify themselves as not understanding. It is therefore important for teachers to carefully plan strategies for assessment both formative and summative to identify what students have learnt to plan for future lessons (Capel, Leask Turner, 2009). It is important to consider different formative assessment methods and their suitability to the learning objectives or particular learning styles of students. Kyriacou (1998) suggested that supporting learning activities with assessment should be of a more subtle approach. This enquiry will focus on various methods of AfL that can be employed by a teacher in order to raise students attainment, motivation towards learning and engagement throughout lessons. AfL plays a key role in teaching and pupils learning, providing continual feedback to students on their level of attainment, where they are succeeding and where they need to improve, giving them information on how to progress further. Through AfL, we as teachers provide continual advice and feedback in the forms of positive reinforcement to constructive dialogue through questioning, to enable students to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the subject promoting cognitive development. This study will focus on the use of AfL within the chosen unit of work as the Office for Standards and education (Ofsted) (2005, 2008a) identified, AfL as the weakest part of teaching and learning, in particular a weak area for student physical education teachers (Ofsted, 2003). It is of key Importance as a student teac her to understand the application of AfL, as several studies have identified that the use of assessment is key in developing future learning opportunities having an impact not just on their attainment but also their attitude to learning, their engagement with the school subjects and their motivation to do well (Black and William, 2001; Black et al., 2003). This enquiry will focus on the delivery of a year 7 boys dance scheme of work delivered over six lessons. When planning the unit of work several factors including knowledge of the learners ability, my knowledge of the subject, curriculum knowledge and pedagogical knowledge were all identified as aspects of a teachers personal subject construct. It is important as a teacher to not allow your personal constructs and views of a subject to exclude pupils with different views, (Banks et al., 1999 cited in Capel, Leask Turner 2009). A framework was provided by the school indicating the learning objectives for each lesson and progression over the unit of work. Through discussion with members of staff with previous experience of delivering the unit of work it helped to increase my subject knowledge and ideas for possible learning activities to incorporate into my lessons. The study school had a well-structured pupil assessment strategy modelled from the national curriculum level descriptors (appendix 1), which was key in designing learning objectives and provided a clear indication of what the students should be working towards. With this information and a brief overview of the classes ability it was possible to start designing the learning objectives for the unit of work. It was important to ensure that my learning objectives were varied across the key processes of physical education to ensure students could demonstrate and develop a variety of skills not merely there physical ability as Ofsted (2002 cited in Cap el) raised concern over the weakness in pupils skills of observation and evaluation due to limited opportunity to develop these skills.. The study school had a big focus on incorporating learning objectives into normal lessons based on Personal Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS) to develop these skills as well as a focus on PLTS in year 7. They clearly understand the importance of raising students abilities as team workers, independent enquirers, reflective learners, independent enquirers, creative thinkers, self-managers and effective participants in order for students to access the curriculum and progress with greater success as laid out by the PLTS National Curriculum Framework (QCDA 2011). When planning to integrate AfL into lessons it is key to acknowledge the ten research based principles of AfL identified by the ARG (2002) into classroom based practice (Appendix 2). As suggested by Black et al (2003) the implementation of specific assessment strategies can increase students learning, increase motivation and enthusiasm towards a subject. Spackman (2002 cited in Capel and Whitehead 2010) identified four characteristics of AfL in relation to physical education as shared learning objectives, questioning, feedback and pupil peer and self-assessment. The sequence of lessons were planned to incorporate an aspect of all four assessment strategies to ensure all students were provided with an opportunity to gain a further understanding of their learning and to provide a wider spectrum of tools to identify students level of ability. Each lesson was structured in three phases, the initial being the identification of a new skill or recall of previously learnt skills providing o pportunity for sharing learning objectives and questioning, the second phase would be a performance where students would practice ad rehearse the newly learnt skill under the teachers guidance which provided opportunity for feedback, questioning and self/ peer assessment and finally the third phase of appreciation where students would focus on peer assessment providing feedback to each other. The lessons focused on the key processes identified in the Key stage 3 National Curriculum for Physical Education. Throughout the delivery of lessons it was not always possible to follow the unit of work as students had not always made sufficient progress to move onto the next learning phase. Therefore lessons were modified based on the previous learning that had occurred to continue the progression smoothly and to ensure learning objectives were not too demanding for the learners. The importance of AfL in forming objectives for learning was emphasised in a report by Ofsted where the chief inspector wrote: Accurate assessment is used to identify focused objectives for learning and is a basis for choosing suitably challenging tasks and resources (Ofsted, 2007). Through the delivery and observation of the first lesson it was clearly identified that effective questioning was used to recap on learning from previous lessons, to ensure student understanding of learning tasks, and to assess students understanding and accomplishment of learning objectives. It is important to question a variety of students not always the ones with hands up as several studies have suggested adopting a no hands up policy in which all students are then required to formulate an answer as to the teacher will pick randomly and to ensure students understand that the an incorrect answer is part of learning and they should not be afraid to ask questions themselves to gain clarity. This also provided opportunity for students to discuss with their peers to formulate a possible answer which is beneficial for learning to occur (DfES, 2007). Other research identified that questions needed to be related back to the learning objectives, and to use more open ended questions as sugg ested by Clarke (2005). Although there was opportunity for peer assessment in the appreciation phase of the lesson this needed to be refined with the use of assessment criteria as identified by Latham (1992 cited in Mawer 1999, pp 242) who noted that in order for peer assessment to work pupils need help in focusing on the specific areas of a skill or process to be assessed. This was later supported by Loose Abrahams (1993 cited in Mawer 1999, pp 242) who identified that pupils need clear instruction on what to focus on when assessing as shown in the example assessment sheet, (Appendix 3). Over the course of the following lessons the use of questioning significantly improved combining the use of open ended and directed questioning to recall prior learnt information and assess the students level of understanding as suggested by Clarke (2005). Learning Objectives were shared with students and discussed at the beginning of the lesson, however the use of questioning could be improved to re-iterate the learning objectives throughout the lesson. Several strategies were used to promote self/peer assessment. One involved students completing a self-assessment sheet (Appendix 4) to identify what they had learnt in prior lessons and also to evaluate what they learnt by the end of the lesson, using a traffic light system for each question as an alternative questioning method to allow greater classroom involvement (Clarke, 2005). Although the content of this assessment has the potential to be a valuable tool it needed to be pitched at a more suitable level to work. Due to the stude nts lack of understanding as to why they were doing it, their ability level and learning style the teaching strategy did not match the leaners personality or information processing level as suggested by Harvey, Hunt and Schroders (1961 cited in Mawer 1999, pp 143) Conceptual systems theory. Based on this research it was noted that maybe due to their low conceptual complexity in terms of information processing they required a simplified system supported by a more structured approach from the teacher as they had not yet developed the capability to generate ideas in a low structured environment (Joyce and Weil, 1986 cited in Mawer 1999, pp 144). This is supported by further research that identified that formative assessment can only work if students are trained in the skills of self-assessment and questioning so they understand why they are doing it and what they need to do to achieve (Black William 2001). As the National Curriculum key stage 3 (assessment pack) states it is at KS3 wh ere students start to take initiative and make decisions for themselves and PLTS are introduced, therefore a careful balance between more structured direct and non-direct teaching styles is needed until these skills are embedded. The use of the traffic light system also provide the teacher with the opportunity to level the class and split the students into groups of differing ability and work on differentiated tasks (Appendix 5). Students were provided with opportunity to assess and provide feedback with the use of video cameras to record and analyse their performance. It was important to provide instruction on what the students should be looking for with reference to the learning objectives when peer assessing as suggested by Loose Abrahams (1993 cited in Mawer 1999, pp. ). The study later identified through observations that when lesson objectives were shared with the class it was important to consider students learning styles, when providing information and guidance on what they might be looking to observe and demonstrate in order for students to achieve the desired learning outcomes. The teacher adopted the Visual, Auditory or Kinaesthetic (VAK) construct (Dryden Vos, 2001 cited in Capel, Leask and Turner, 2009 , pp.262), to implement when planning and delivering (Appendix 5). Throughout lessons various stimuli were used including visual aids by displaying learning objectives, posters and using video footage (Appendix 5). The teacher incorporated practical demonstrations to explain what they were looking for as opposed to the earlier descriptively heavy verbal instructions, providing students with more time to actually rehearse and practise the new skills and more time working collaboratively in groups. Through observation it was evident that the use of video footage and practical demonstration had a large impact on the students understanding when used to identify learning goals (appendix 5). As research suggests it is of particular help when learning outcomes are shared in a format that the pupils can understand (ARG, 2002; Black et al; 2003; Clarke, 2005). The use of video recording and ICT was also used to provide students with the chance to watch their own performances allowing opportunity for peer self-assessment. It is important for students to be able to assess themselves and others in order to have a clear picture of how to move forward and achieve (Black Williams 2001). For effective learning to take place teachers must carefully plan structured opportunities for students to develop the skills needed to comprehend a task, analyse feedback, self-assess their performance and be creative in solving problems through the use of AfL. As often as possible learning opportunities should be delivered with consideration of the students learning style for the greatest level of understanding to occur. The implementation of visual aids especially the use of ICT had a big impact on the students comprehension of tasks and motivation towards learning new skills, developing their ability to analyse a performance and provide structured feedback to their peers. It is clear that Spackmans (2002) four characteristics of AfL provide a basis for planning and implementing AfL strategies but further planning needs to go into how each characteristic is delivered within a lesson to cater for various academic abilities and learning styles. By including an aspect of all the char ateristics in a lesson you are able to motivate, enthuse and help drive students forward. The key to successful teaching comes from the use of AfL on a daily basis to ensure students know what they are trying to learn by sharing learning objectives, helping students recognise success by sharing learning outcomes, providing a success criteria and identify the reasoning as to why they are learning it (DfES, 2007). It is also important to consider that this must be communicated in a way that is understood by the student (ARG, 2002; Black et al; 2003; Clarke,2005). In future planning the use of questioning needs to be carefully evaluated and planned to provide opportunity for higher order thinking in line with Blooms Taxonomy. Learning Objectives, outcomes and feedback all need to be provided in a language and format that the learners can access, whether it be verbal through use of pictures or video analysis. It is of utmost importance to ensure students are developing the learning and thinking skills in lessons to allow them to access their education alongside the academic objectives of lessons. Word Count: 2448 Reference List Assessment Reform Group (ARG) (2002) Testing, motivation and learning [online] Cambridge: University of Cambridge Faculty of Education. Available from: http://www.assessment-reform-group.org/TML%20BOOKLET%20complete.pdf [Accessed 5th January 2011] Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B. and Wiliam, D (2003) Assessment for Learning: Putting it into Practice, Maidenhead: Open University Press. Black, P., and Wiliam, D. (2001). Inside the Black Box, [online] London: Kings College. Available from: http://weaeducation.typepad.co.uk/files/blackbox-1.pdf Clarke, S., (2005) Formative Assessment in Action: Weaving the Elements Together. Lon don: Hodder and Stoughton. Department for Education Skills (DfES) (2007) Assessment for Learning 8 Schools Project Report. [online] London: DfES Available from: http://c97.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/c97/accounts/english/homepage/Assessment/documents/AfL/8%20schools.pdf Ofsted (2003) Quality and Standards in Secondary Initial Teacher Training (HMI 546) [online] London: GreenShires Print Group. Available from: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Education/Teachers-and-teacher-training/Routes-into-teaching/Quality-and-standards-in-secondary-initial-teacher-training [Accessed February 2011] Ofsted (2005) The Secondary National Strategy: An Evaluation of the Fifth Year (HMI 2612) [online] Available from: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Education/Providers/Secondary-schools/The-Secondary-National-Strategy [Accessed February 2011] Ofsted (2008) Evaluation of the Primary and Secondary National Strategies 2005-2007 (HMI 070033) [online] Available from: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Documents-by-type/Thematic-reports/Evaluation-of-the-Primary-and-Secondary-National-Strategies Ofsted (2007) The Annual Report of Her Majestys Chief Inspector of Education, Childrens Services and Skills 2006/07, (HMI 20070035) [online] Available from: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Annual-Report/2006-07/The-Annual-Report-of-Her-Majesty-s-Chief-Inspector-2006-07 [Accessed February 2011] http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/skills/personal-learning-and-thinking-skills/index.aspx).