Customer Service-Customer for Life-discussion Personal Statement

Customer Service-Customer for Life-discussion - Personal Statement Example Companies should aim at optimizing the entire customer experience while again focusing on traditional CRM functions like customer loyalty program, call center automation and outbound marketing. Companies need customer experience management in order to develop lifelong customers. In North Dakota, a company that fits this description is Gate City Bank. The corporation ensures that the processes of its employees are completely attuned to making and keeping the customers satisfied at each and every step along the way, which it does with the help of a thorough and detailed feedback program. The Bank also ensures that their customers feel special and appreciated to make them lifelong customers. A condition it achieves by sending them gifts or cards on special occasions and holidays, remembering their anniversaries and birthdays, sending them a regular newsletter and special reports explaining top them how to benefit more from the products offered and also to improve their various life aspects. The company summarizes this in their mission

Abraham Lincoln Bio Essay Example for Free

Abraham Lincoln Bio Essay Since his death in 1865, Abraham Lincoln has been immortalized as one of, if not the greatest hero in American history due to his role in ending the Civil War and abolishing slavery. He led our country through its’ darkest days and was able to prevent the south from successfully seceding and preserving the United States. Throughout history many have been called heroes, some deservedly and others not. Lincoln’s recognition as a hero is valid because of his many achievements and his leadership style. Lincoln was born in February 1809, in Kentucky. His early life was difficult, losing his mother to illness at 9 years old. The family was poor and Lincoln needed to work to help support them. As a result, he had very little formal education, but it was this hard work and humble beginnings that ignited the spark in Lincoln to learn. When he was a young man the family moved to Illinois and it was there that Lincoln learned the law and became interested in local politics. In 1834 he was elected to the Illinois State Legislature. He taught himself the law, was admitted to the Bar in 1836 and also began a career as a successful lawyer. Between 1847 and 1849 he served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives. As a result of the increased opposition to slavery, the Republican Party was born and Lincoln joined the party in 1856. It was his anti-slavery views and the continuing passing of laws to protect slavery that further sparked his interest in politics. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate but obtain national exposure from the race due to his unique communication and debating techniques. It was this exposure that found him as a candidate for President in 1860. He was elected the 16th President of the United States and the first President from the Republican Party. Because of his well-known views on slavery, the  secessionists began their plans to split from the Union prior to his taking office. The Civil Was began in April of 1861 with the attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Almost immediately in his role as President, Lincoln was faced with the most challenging situation of any President prior to him. His decision-making and communication skills, though unpopular at times, would be a vital part of his success over the next several years. Lincoln possessed strong social intelligence skills. He was sensitive to other people’s feelings and moods, and he was particularly adept at reading people. Lincoln had a great ability in understanding the motivations of others, and was skillful at getting others to cooperate with him. He knew to be pleasant and approachable while also being fierce when fighting for causes he believed in. One tool that Lincoln would use was storytelling. He would use stories from his past which would put people at ease while at the same time relaying his point in a clear way. Another method he would use was to ask questions to get his rivals to see things his way. His communication style and speeches were simple and logical. Abraham Lincoln’s most famous speech was the Gettysburg Address given in 1863 at the dedication of the National Cemetery after the battle at Gettysburg. The speech last just over two minutes and was an example of how Lincoln understood his audience. There had been much â€Å"Pomp and Circumstance† throughout the ceremony and many long speeches prior to his. The words he chose were short and to the point, but were full of inspiration and emotion. The speech focused on the principles of the founding fathers of our nation and the words from the Declaration of Independence that â€Å"all men are created equal† and that all men have the unalienable rights to the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. One of the main things Lincoln wanted to accomplish with this speech, was to rally support for the 13th Amendment, which would abolish slavery and was in jeopardy of failing to pass in Congress. Lincoln again used his influence as a communicator to get the 13th Amendment passed. He would spend hours with his political rivals building relationships. It was important that he understood their perspectives on the issues and would give them the opportunity to express their views and needs. His approach was thoughtful and personal. This bill was met with much opposition and it took great skill and tenacity on Lincoln’s part to insure its passage. Many Presidents since Lincoln have also faced challenges when trying to pass  legislature, among them our current President Barack Obama. Whether or not you are a supporter of our current President aside, some similarities can be seen between the two. As was the case with Lincoln, Obama is known for his listening skills, and taking in ideas from all sides. He is a skilled orator and there is a strong sense of morality in his tone when speaking. There are many references to President Lincoln in Obama’s speeches which show the influence the former President has on him. Abraham Lincoln led our nation through one of its most turbulent times. He used his communication skills and understanding of people to obtain success. His ability to talk to people and understand what they stood for while moving them to see things his way led him to be regarded as one of our greatest Presidents. References A-E Networks. Abraham lincoln biography [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/abraham-lincoln-9382540 Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided PBS. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lincolns/player/ Hubbard, C. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.historynet.com/abraham-lincoln Communicate like Abraham Lincoln. Retrieved from:http://www.communitelligence.com/blps/article.cfm?weblog The Connections Between President Barack Obama and President Abraham Lincoln (n.d.)Retrieved from: http://www.reobama.com/ObamaLincoln.htm House passes the 13th Amendment. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/house-passes-the-13th-amendment

Internationalisation of Public Relations Education

Internationalisation of Public Relations Education Introduction The main theme of the dissertation is internationalisation of public relations education. It is quite a broad topic and can be reviewed and discussed from different points of view. In this regard the selected literature first examines international public relations concepts and secondly an impact it has on public relations education. Therefore, literature review has been divided into the following major themes: International public relations (IPR) and International public relations education (IPRE). The chapter will begin by presenting the main debates about international public relations and its concepts alongside with a brief overview of factors influencing it. It will be followed by a section presenting state of research on IPR. The discussion will then move to section two international public relations education, exploring the requisites and challenges for internationalisation. Finally the chapter will summarise the key themes and points identified. The major part of the literature review focuses on contemporary research, defined as 1989-2009. International PR A growing number of publications document the development and challenges of the public relations in every major continent and region of the world (Nally, 1991, Moss et al., 1997, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003b, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Freitag and Stokes, 2009). This research refers term global PR to globalisation of the profession, which is being practises and recognised in more countries throughout the globe, while International PR refers to the planning and implementation of programmes and campaigns carried out abroad or for international audience. Hence international PR education refers to the process of adopting professional training to International PR concepts and demand. Public relations is still relatively new concern for management, even though its modern origins can be traced to the end of the last century (White, 1991). According to (Cutlip, 1994), a key researcher in the history of public relations in the U.S., the first international public relations agency The Hamilton Wright Organization was founded in 1908. International communities of professionals and scholars are increasingly interested in transferring knowledge, experiences, and best practices from national to transnational scenarios. This advancement is generated by the increasing role of public relations which is driven largely by the influence of new information technologies and globalisation (Flodin, 2003). Drawing upon this, DiStaso et al. (2009) discussed the effects of globalisation, that began with the Maastricht Treaty and NAFTAA in 1992, the WTO in 1994 and claiming it had great impact on the public relations industry. According to Szondis (2009, p.115) International public relations is the planned communication activity of a (multinational) organisation, a supra- or international institution or government through interactions in the target country which facilitates the organisation (or government) to achieve its policy or business objectives without harming the interests of the publics. There have been papers which presented international PR to be simply about how to overcome barriers that are created by other cultures, including language, laws or cultural issues, which are often indentified as problems (Wilcox et al., 2001), rather than opportunities or the manifestation of diversity. The most frequently referenced paper which stands against IPR has been Angell (1990) asserted that the variance between local countries was so great as to preclude any possibility of globalisation. A much different study, also highly referenced, has been provided by Pavlik (1987), who as early as the 1980s considered IPR one of the most rapidly growing areas of the profession, and one of the least understood. The problem with defining difference between domestically and internationally done public relations is that there is not enough research or critical assessment. While basic principles do not change, the way they are carried out from culture to culture and country to country, and the attitudes and values embedded within those different cultures or countries, are different (Wakefield, 2007b). A similar study was conducted by Botan (1992, p. 157), who argued that international public relations is always intercultural. The existing public relations body of knowledge, and public relations curricula around the world, have a U.S. bias (Sriramesh, 2002). U.S. paradigm, however, strikes with the idea of that European or non-U.S. perceptions of public relations become more of value in the twenty first century. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield (2007b), who have been practicing and researching in the area of IPR for almost two decades, believes that principles and practices of PR in Europe, emphasising social role of public relations, are more promising for effective PR in the multinational than the American-based PR-as-marketing-tool approach. He, alongside the majority of new PR schools, supports paradigms of PR incoming out of places other than the U.S. Therefore, need and call for the elsewhere theories and concepts was also a factor for a research in international/global PR. Ovaitt (1988, p.5) made an interesting suggestion saying that it was not a popular idea with marketing and advertising experts when they started thinking about internationalisation decades ago and it was not popular with public relations practitioners back to late 1980s. The idea is that what these professionals do for a living might be done on a global basis global in the sense of achieving some significant level of standardisation, not only of what is offered to customers, but also how it is presented and promoted. Public relations as a profession is not necessarily understood and practised in the same manner all around the world. This is not news per se, as several scholars (Sharpe, 1992, Vercic et al., 1996, Taylor, 2000, Rhee, 2002, Valentini, 2007) for many years have underlined that public relations requires a global understanding of cultural differences. Different studies (Kent and Taylor, 1999, Lee, 2005) show that public relations practitioners are increasingly required to be able to communicate with different international publics, no matter the size of the organisation they are working for, or whether it is private or public, including non-profit organisations. After the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Excellence Study yielded a review of normative principles (Grunig, 1992), Vercic et al. (1996) explained the importance of identifying five contextual variables that influence the practice of the normative principles. Vercic, Grunig, and Grunig (Vercic et al., 1996) proposed a global theory of public relations that was elaborated by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003a, 2003b, 2009) in their Global Public Relations Handbook and by Sriramesh (2009) in a special issue of PRism. Their global public relations theory attempted to answer the question of whether public relations theory and practice should be unique to each country or culture or whether it should be practiced in the same way everywhere. Authors answered this question by theorising that global public relations should fall in the middle between standardisation and individualisation (Grunig, 2009). The theoretical framework of Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) has been used to assess the status of public relations in countries around the world. Contextualised studies are the core component of the global public relations concept. As Vercic (2009) reported, international PR practices should represent the best practices anywhere because of their necessary complexities and reach. Global theory is not a positive theory, which describes a type of public relations that currently is practiced everywhere in the world. Research, such as that reported in Sriramesh and Vercic (2003, 2009), does show that there are many idiosyncrasies in public relations practice around the world that reflect cultural differences. It also shows that the one worldwide universal in public relations practice is what is J. Grunig have called the press agentry/publicity model (Grunig et al., 1995)-the least effective of the models. Rather, their global theory is a normative theory that argues that public relations will be most effective throughout most parts of the world (Grunig, 2009, p.2). Emphasising cross-cultural effects on reputation in multinational organizations Wakefield (2007b, 2008) argues that there still is an important distinction between global and domestic public relations practices, and that understanding those differences will contribute to better global practice. More specifically, recent research has also called into questions of need to understand how culture affects public relations. There are numbers of key researches (Grunig et al., 1995) who have written papers specifically on the subject. A similar study was conducted by Neff (1991), who has indicated that economic development is leading public relations firms down a path requiring knowledge of culture and language in addition to public relations. Perhaps one of the most influential recent publications on multiculturalism in public relations education was produced by Sriramesh (Sriramesh, 2002, Sriramesh, 2003). He has also reported that public relations education has not kept pace with the rapi d globalisation that has occurred since 1992 (Sriramesh, 2002). Sriramesh (2009) called for a need for a more thoughtful representation of many of the generic principles of public relations practice to suit the local environment, so that the body of knowledge is more holistic and relevant to global demands. However, there still is a room for an assumption that not all the practitioners require international training and international perspective. RESEARCH / CRITICS: Since the advent of the Internet, it is even more tempting to view PR practice as the same anywhere, and therefore it decreases attempts to produce research or principles that need to view à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“cross-border PR as different (Wakefield, 2007a). Despite the numerous calls for research, reviewed works and studies on global (national) public relations released in the 2000s (see table 1) (Portugal, United States see table) have recorded that this area of research is underrepresented. Despite global trends underlining increased internationalisation, these results can be interpreted to indicate that Researchers have not paid enough attention to the international perspective. An important indicator is the place international public relations occupy in the list of priority research topics. One recent example is a Study of the Priorities for Public Relations Research conducted by Deputy Dean of Media School of Bournemouth University (UK) Tom Watson (Watson, 2008, Watson, 2007)  [1 ]  .He sent 26 public relations topics to a Delphi study panel and the Top Ten PR research topics were identified, however, international perspective was excluded from the list. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield responded critically to Watsons Delphi study: First, I was surprised in finding that the topic fell all the way out of the top ten. After all, arent PR issues and challenges, along with its overall scope of practice, becoming more international with each passing year?(2007a, p. 6) Nonetheless he added: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“There really are no more studies being done on international public relations now than have been done over the course of the last three decades. Those that are being published are increasingly making such statements as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“there is no such thing as local PR anymore, or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“today, everything is global. Well, if this represents what academics and practitioners are thinking, then it would stand to reason that no real different research needs to be done-that ANY PR principles, even if they are all traditionally domestic in nature, would suffice for research or practice anywhere in the world (2007a, p.7). The seminal critique in this area is also by Sriramesh (2009, p.6), who argues: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“When scholars think of, and discuss, public relations, the global perspective is often overlooked. Srirameshs (2009) critique of Mackey (Mackey, 2003), who claimed to introduce the various contemporary theories of public relations in the inaugural issue of Prism is also indicative: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The author attempted to review à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the changing vistas in public relations theory, there was not a single mention of any advances in global public relations theorising in that piece even though by 2003/that time there were several advances worth reporting'(2009, p.8). Another example is Distasso (2009). Authors surveyed 312 public relations executives and educators to examine how well practitioners and instructors perceive public relations students to be prepared for the practice, the content and value of public relations curricula and, the future of public relations education in the United States. Even though scholar mentioned globalisation as a factor increasingly influencing public relations practice he had not included it in the questionnaires or research questions. Somewhat it contrast are papers from the annual International Public Relations Research Symposium Bledcom, which reflect the diverse and up-to-date research traditions amongst scholars working in the field of public relations both within the USA and Europe (Moss et al., 1997, Newman and Vercic, 2002, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003a, Sriramesh, 2004, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Van Ruler et al., 2008, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2009). These are scholars, who systematically examines the priorities for PR research and determine international agenda These differences in research agenda are reflected/explained, to some degree, in the/by Scholars like Sriramesh, Vercic, Wakefield and others highlighted the important point that an issue of international public relations is not reflected enough in the research questions. International public relations education (IPRE) As a corollary to the process of globalisation has been the recognition of the need to make public relations education more internationally focused and future public relations professionals more internationally and interculturally competent (Lane DiStephano, 1992) / Huthcings et al., 2002 There have been numbers of calls for new public relations curricula aimed at educating staffs that can understand and meet increasing international social, economic and political complexities and challenges. (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, p. 13). The International Association of Universities (1998) supported the need for business schools to be more international in their strategy, claiming higher education must integrate an intercultural dimension into its teaching and research, if it is to fulfil its role and maintain excellence. (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 58). Another rationale for an international public relations course is the accelerating pace of societal and technological change today. These cha nges call for adaptations in academic curricula and professional development programs. There were written dozen papers on justification of international public relations education based on research in the different areas. Some went radical claiming that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“any curriculum that excludes international public relations courses is ineffective in addressing student and practitioner needs, particularly in the next century (21 century).(Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994) p.9 Factors what influence the development of IPRE are mostly the same, however they have different interpretations. The need for international courses in public relations is demonstrated further by the growing global recognition of public relations degree programs and education, a phenomenon that Cantor (1984) predicted more than twenty years ago. And indeed, previous investigation has established that the call for internationalisation of public relations education has been there for a long time and comes from both industry and academia sectors (Neff, 1991, Cottone et al., 1985). However, disagreements between practitioners and educators on a blueprint for international public relations education have also been documented (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994). A decade old survey of U.S. public relations educators and practitioners that explored the state of curricula and content in public relations education found that both practitioners and educators perceive need to incorporate courses and cont ent that will prepare future practitioners for the global landscape (Neff et al., 1999). A Public relations is a multidisciplinary area of study and practice that must change as rapidly as the context and society in which it exists (Baskin, 1989, p. 35). As public relations continues to be a globalised profession, curriculum should be updated to reflect the practice. Ten years later similar study has recorded, that having a global perspective and experience with a variety of cultures are necessary but lacking skills for advanced level practitioners (DiStaso et al., 2009, p.269). An important consideration in providing students with some skills in achieving cross-cultural understanding is the recognition that, as future business professionals and leaders, they will live in a society increasingly characterised by international labour mobility and multiculturalism. The international manager or employee will be an individual who will spend their working lives in several distinct job areas working for several organisations as well as making several sojourns to various international postings. This means that the new style employee will need to be cosmopolitan, multilingual, multifaceted and what Schneider Barsoux (1997, p. 157) refer to as a capacity to operate à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“across national borders somewhat like James Bond. Public relations education at all levels and in both communication and MBA programmes should educate students to practise public relations globally (Grunig and Grunig, 2002). However, not only do students need to be trained and prepared for this mobility, but even those who do not move to another nation face the recognition that the domestic work environment also requires some responsiveness to differing cultures (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 69). Sriramesh (2009, p.6) makes a reasonable argument that even textbooks in the US and the UK should contain more global cases and interpretations so as to give their own students a more international and holistic education, thus broadening their horizons. It is indicated that authors of universitys level public relations textbooks have not yet realised the growing importance of international public relations and thus deal marginally with it. The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) has drawn on its international membership to research and recommend standards for public relations education and has established the results of its work in two Gold papers in 1982 and 1990 (IPRA (1982) Gold paper No. 4, A Model for Public Relations Education for Professional Practice, and (1990) Gold Paper No.7, Public Relations Education Recommendations and Standards). (White, 1991) p.184-185 Not much has changed since that time. WAYS: Number of general papers were designed in response to the need for public relations education to produce well-trained, culturally sensitive practitioners (Miller, 1992, Ekachai and Komolsevin, 1998, Burbules and Torres, 2000, Bardhan, 2003, Dickerson, 2005, Tuleja, 2008). With the increasing importance of international communication, some educators had considered creating a course dedicated to international public relations (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, Taylor, 2001). In a special edition of Public Relations Review on developing teaching related materials, Taylor (2001) offered guidance to public relations educators on how to develop an international public relations curriculum because: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“New communication technologies and global communication processes create more frequent international communication (Taylor, 2001, p.2). Nevertheless, some of the Taylors conclusions sounded far too decisive: The most comprehensive way to internationalize the public relations curriculum is to offer a course dedicated to international public relations (p. 74). Creedon and Al-Khaja (2005) analysed how adding cultural competency to the list of skills and competencies required in educational programs presents an opportunity to educate a generation that will accept difference and value a global culture separate from national identity. Then again the study was rather limited the authors conducted a survey of accredited programs to determine whether or not a history course was required of their majors. Another empirical-based study argued that just talking about the importance if IPR in the classroom is not sufficient, students have to be able to live international public relations in order to understand its relevance (Bardhan, 1999, p. 19). An important portion of literature on international public relations education suggests the necessity for students to learn about other countries through immersion. According to Porth (Porth, 1997, Tuleja, 2008) the international study tour course may be a legitimate answer to critics of education who urge business schools to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“go global and to create stronger ties with the international business and academic communities. More specifically, recent research has also called into question the assumption of studying internationally. For instance, Hutchings et al. (2002, p. 58)suggests that the challenge for the education is how to devise a short-term study program that is effective in exposing international concepts to the student. Yet, foreign travel alone is not the panacea for internationalising PR education because it is difficult to manage even if having resources. Hutchings study is focused on going abroad, even so it may make some contribution to understanding of glo bal consciousness characterised as moving towards a recognition and appreciation of increasingly global diversity and interdependence. Arguments about which is the best approach to international public relations education, courses and its numbers, or changing the context with its live experience and observations, largely missed the important point that methods have to be fit for their purposes. For some purposes, this is the best, and in other cases the choice will be this and that. Furthermore, although those approaches rest on very different use of resources and possibilities, they can be complementary in the hands of future research and need to be incompatible. Many studies would benefit from mindfully using each approach for different purposes at different stages of the internationalisation. Fuller discussions of this are to be found in some public relations papers, including (Neff, 1991, Dibrova and Kabanova, 2004, Peterson and Mak, 2006, Chung, 2007/8, Dolby and Rahman, 2008). CHALLENGES/BARRIERS: Authors such as Kalupa and Carroll Bateman (1980) have suggested that public relations educators have failed maintain the currency of the teaching in relation to the practice. On the other hand, Holbrook (1985, 1995) has been one of the most prominent critics of the idea of selecting research topics based on what is of interest to practitioners. He has argued that such an orientation tarnishes the purity of the academic endeavour. Amongst other challenges Bardhan (1999) recorded that educators feel unprepared at present to handle the task effectively and lack of interest among students. Falb (1991, 1992) has claimed that because of putting public relations curriculums in either Mass Communications or Journalism public relations has been inhibited in its growth in academic and professional areas. Similar study was conducted by (Pincus et al., 1994), who argued that communication topics do not rate high in MBA programs: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of public relations topics in MBA programs, the profession will never realize entry to the highest levels of corporate decision making (1994: p.55) . Making an analogy, this statement might be extended by claiming that If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of international public relations concepts in Postgraduate programs, the profession will lack behind present state of research and practice. This statement finds a reflection in recent research as well. Papers like Sriramesh (2002) claim that it is time for educators to integrate experiences from other continents into the PR body of knowledge, thereby building PR curricula that contribute to training truly multicultural PR professionals. CONCLUSION: Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) underlined the compelling need for a text describing and explaining public relations practices and body of knowledge in different parts of the world. Their call for research has been taken up and largely because it proposed a framework, which made it easier to facilitate global research. Thereby, by critically examining the framework scholars in different countries enrich international public relations body of knowledge and provides prove or counter-arguments to the Global theory. Nonetheless, it might be argued that among those five factors, which have been put forward by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003), one is missing professional PR training. In this regard it can be concluded the following. Firstly, such indicator as level of professional training can be considered as a sixth factor influencing practicing public relations in country. Secondly, on the basis of a global concept can be developed a similar concept and subsequently applied to the study of inte rnational public relations education. Thirdly, basing on data provided from the five factors, it allowed to determine the degree of standardization vs. localization of IPR programs and courses and to identify barriers and obstacles. Achieving internationalisation of public relations education is concluded to be important for three reasons. First, because many graduating students will be finding employment internationally and benefit from having been educated to be effective in differing cultural settings. Second, because rapid changes in national immigration policies have meant that many more nations are considerably more multicultural than they have been in the past and citizens need to be more conscious of diversity in their national and organisational surroundings. Third, because the pace of changes in the international political economy necessitates that people must be responsive to international economic and business forces. Thus, students who receive an internationally focused public relations education should be more culturally and socially aware and prepared to cope with the demands of rapid international economic, political and social change (Hutchings et al., 2002). Professional education and training are one of the major issues in every country in which public relations is practised. Even the US, where there are hundreds of public relations education are frequently expressed, and senior practitioners rise questions about the value of existing public relations education programmes (White, 1991, p. 184). Sommerness and Beaman (1994) found only few offerings of university courses emphasising international public relations across the United States at that time. However, most recent study has shown that some authors (Hatzitos and Lariscy, 2008) report an increased interest in scholarly research in international public relations and an effort to internationalise the public relations curricula at many U.S. universities. Despite the fact that significant gaps were found between desired outcomes and those actually found in the opinions of both practitioner and educators, certain surveys (Neff et al., 1999) have revealed strong agreement between educator s and practitioners regarding the training, experience and expertise outcomes needed for career development in public relations. Thus, while the goals of public relations education to certain extent seem clear, the means of achieving those goals, including curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, may not be as clear. However, studies such as examining perception, asking whether or not IPR should be emphasised doesnt really contribute anymore as the concept have solidly grounded. There have been dozen papers reporting that call for a development. What more valuable for this particular research is the fact that international public relations education requires to be integrated into global PR perspective. International experiences, approaches and cases must be studied and shared between international academic societies. The literature review recorded a substantial gap in international public relations education research elsewhere than U.S. Therefore there is a need in further researching and describing development in IPRE globally. This particular study will explore perceptions and state of IPR education in two countries the United Kingdom and Russia. Internationalisation of Public Relations Education Internationalisation of Public Relations Education Introduction The main theme of the dissertation is internationalisation of public relations education. It is quite a broad topic and can be reviewed and discussed from different points of view. In this regard the selected literature first examines international public relations concepts and secondly an impact it has on public relations education. Therefore, literature review has been divided into the following major themes: International public relations (IPR) and International public relations education (IPRE). The chapter will begin by presenting the main debates about international public relations and its concepts alongside with a brief overview of factors influencing it. It will be followed by a section presenting state of research on IPR. The discussion will then move to section two international public relations education, exploring the requisites and challenges for internationalisation. Finally the chapter will summarise the key themes and points identified. The major part of the literature review focuses on contemporary research, defined as 1989-2009. International PR A growing number of publications document the development and challenges of the public relations in every major continent and region of the world (Nally, 1991, Moss et al., 1997, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003b, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Freitag and Stokes, 2009). This research refers term global PR to globalisation of the profession, which is being practises and recognised in more countries throughout the globe, while International PR refers to the planning and implementation of programmes and campaigns carried out abroad or for international audience. Hence international PR education refers to the process of adopting professional training to International PR concepts and demand. Public relations is still relatively new concern for management, even though its modern origins can be traced to the end of the last century (White, 1991). According to (Cutlip, 1994), a key researcher in the history of public relations in the U.S., the first international public relations agency The Hamilton Wright Organization was founded in 1908. International communities of professionals and scholars are increasingly interested in transferring knowledge, experiences, and best practices from national to transnational scenarios. This advancement is generated by the increasing role of public relations which is driven largely by the influence of new information technologies and globalisation (Flodin, 2003). Drawing upon this, DiStaso et al. (2009) discussed the effects of globalisation, that began with the Maastricht Treaty and NAFTAA in 1992, the WTO in 1994 and claiming it had great impact on the public relations industry. According to Szondis (2009, p.115) International public relations is the planned communication activity of a (multinational) organisation, a supra- or international institution or government through interactions in the target country which facilitates the organisation (or government) to achieve its policy or business objectives without harming the interests of the publics. There have been papers which presented international PR to be simply about how to overcome barriers that are created by other cultures, including language, laws or cultural issues, which are often indentified as problems (Wilcox et al., 2001), rather than opportunities or the manifestation of diversity. The most frequently referenced paper which stands against IPR has been Angell (1990) asserted that the variance between local countries was so great as to preclude any possibility of globalisation. A much different study, also highly referenced, has been provided by Pavlik (1987), who as early as the 1980s considered IPR one of the most rapidly growing areas of the profession, and one of the least understood. The problem with defining difference between domestically and internationally done public relations is that there is not enough research or critical assessment. While basic principles do not change, the way they are carried out from culture to culture and country to country, and the attitudes and values embedded within those different cultures or countries, are different (Wakefield, 2007b). A similar study was conducted by Botan (1992, p. 157), who argued that international public relations is always intercultural. The existing public relations body of knowledge, and public relations curricula around the world, have a U.S. bias (Sriramesh, 2002). U.S. paradigm, however, strikes with the idea of that European or non-U.S. perceptions of public relations become more of value in the twenty first century. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield (2007b), who have been practicing and researching in the area of IPR for almost two decades, believes that principles and practices of PR in Europe, emphasising social role of public relations, are more promising for effective PR in the multinational than the American-based PR-as-marketing-tool approach. He, alongside the majority of new PR schools, supports paradigms of PR incoming out of places other than the U.S. Therefore, need and call for the elsewhere theories and concepts was also a factor for a research in international/global PR. Ovaitt (1988, p.5) made an interesting suggestion saying that it was not a popular idea with marketing and advertising experts when they started thinking about internationalisation decades ago and it was not popular with public relations practitioners back to late 1980s. The idea is that what these professionals do for a living might be done on a global basis global in the sense of achieving some significant level of standardisation, not only of what is offered to customers, but also how it is presented and promoted. Public relations as a profession is not necessarily understood and practised in the same manner all around the world. This is not news per se, as several scholars (Sharpe, 1992, Vercic et al., 1996, Taylor, 2000, Rhee, 2002, Valentini, 2007) for many years have underlined that public relations requires a global understanding of cultural differences. Different studies (Kent and Taylor, 1999, Lee, 2005) show that public relations practitioners are increasingly required to be able to communicate with different international publics, no matter the size of the organisation they are working for, or whether it is private or public, including non-profit organisations. After the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Excellence Study yielded a review of normative principles (Grunig, 1992), Vercic et al. (1996) explained the importance of identifying five contextual variables that influence the practice of the normative principles. Vercic, Grunig, and Grunig (Vercic et al., 1996) proposed a global theory of public relations that was elaborated by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003a, 2003b, 2009) in their Global Public Relations Handbook and by Sriramesh (2009) in a special issue of PRism. Their global public relations theory attempted to answer the question of whether public relations theory and practice should be unique to each country or culture or whether it should be practiced in the same way everywhere. Authors answered this question by theorising that global public relations should fall in the middle between standardisation and individualisation (Grunig, 2009). The theoretical framework of Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) has been used to assess the status of public relations in countries around the world. Contextualised studies are the core component of the global public relations concept. As Vercic (2009) reported, international PR practices should represent the best practices anywhere because of their necessary complexities and reach. Global theory is not a positive theory, which describes a type of public relations that currently is practiced everywhere in the world. Research, such as that reported in Sriramesh and Vercic (2003, 2009), does show that there are many idiosyncrasies in public relations practice around the world that reflect cultural differences. It also shows that the one worldwide universal in public relations practice is what is J. Grunig have called the press agentry/publicity model (Grunig et al., 1995)-the least effective of the models. Rather, their global theory is a normative theory that argues that public relations will be most effective throughout most parts of the world (Grunig, 2009, p.2). Emphasising cross-cultural effects on reputation in multinational organizations Wakefield (2007b, 2008) argues that there still is an important distinction between global and domestic public relations practices, and that understanding those differences will contribute to better global practice. More specifically, recent research has also called into questions of need to understand how culture affects public relations. There are numbers of key researches (Grunig et al., 1995) who have written papers specifically on the subject. A similar study was conducted by Neff (1991), who has indicated that economic development is leading public relations firms down a path requiring knowledge of culture and language in addition to public relations. Perhaps one of the most influential recent publications on multiculturalism in public relations education was produced by Sriramesh (Sriramesh, 2002, Sriramesh, 2003). He has also reported that public relations education has not kept pace with the rapi d globalisation that has occurred since 1992 (Sriramesh, 2002). Sriramesh (2009) called for a need for a more thoughtful representation of many of the generic principles of public relations practice to suit the local environment, so that the body of knowledge is more holistic and relevant to global demands. However, there still is a room for an assumption that not all the practitioners require international training and international perspective. RESEARCH / CRITICS: Since the advent of the Internet, it is even more tempting to view PR practice as the same anywhere, and therefore it decreases attempts to produce research or principles that need to view à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“cross-border PR as different (Wakefield, 2007a). Despite the numerous calls for research, reviewed works and studies on global (national) public relations released in the 2000s (see table 1) (Portugal, United States see table) have recorded that this area of research is underrepresented. Despite global trends underlining increased internationalisation, these results can be interpreted to indicate that Researchers have not paid enough attention to the international perspective. An important indicator is the place international public relations occupy in the list of priority research topics. One recent example is a Study of the Priorities for Public Relations Research conducted by Deputy Dean of Media School of Bournemouth University (UK) Tom Watson (Watson, 2008, Watson, 2007)  [1 ]  .He sent 26 public relations topics to a Delphi study panel and the Top Ten PR research topics were identified, however, international perspective was excluded from the list. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield responded critically to Watsons Delphi study: First, I was surprised in finding that the topic fell all the way out of the top ten. After all, arent PR issues and challenges, along with its overall scope of practice, becoming more international with each passing year?(2007a, p. 6) Nonetheless he added: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“There really are no more studies being done on international public relations now than have been done over the course of the last three decades. Those that are being published are increasingly making such statements as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“there is no such thing as local PR anymore, or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“today, everything is global. Well, if this represents what academics and practitioners are thinking, then it would stand to reason that no real different research needs to be done-that ANY PR principles, even if they are all traditionally domestic in nature, would suffice for research or practice anywhere in the world (2007a, p.7). The seminal critique in this area is also by Sriramesh (2009, p.6), who argues: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“When scholars think of, and discuss, public relations, the global perspective is often overlooked. Srirameshs (2009) critique of Mackey (Mackey, 2003), who claimed to introduce the various contemporary theories of public relations in the inaugural issue of Prism is also indicative: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The author attempted to review à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the changing vistas in public relations theory, there was not a single mention of any advances in global public relations theorising in that piece even though by 2003/that time there were several advances worth reporting'(2009, p.8). Another example is Distasso (2009). Authors surveyed 312 public relations executives and educators to examine how well practitioners and instructors perceive public relations students to be prepared for the practice, the content and value of public relations curricula and, the future of public relations education in the United States. Even though scholar mentioned globalisation as a factor increasingly influencing public relations practice he had not included it in the questionnaires or research questions. Somewhat it contrast are papers from the annual International Public Relations Research Symposium Bledcom, which reflect the diverse and up-to-date research traditions amongst scholars working in the field of public relations both within the USA and Europe (Moss et al., 1997, Newman and Vercic, 2002, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003a, Sriramesh, 2004, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Van Ruler et al., 2008, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2009). These are scholars, who systematically examines the priorities for PR research and determine international agenda These differences in research agenda are reflected/explained, to some degree, in the/by Scholars like Sriramesh, Vercic, Wakefield and others highlighted the important point that an issue of international public relations is not reflected enough in the research questions. International public relations education (IPRE) As a corollary to the process of globalisation has been the recognition of the need to make public relations education more internationally focused and future public relations professionals more internationally and interculturally competent (Lane DiStephano, 1992) / Huthcings et al., 2002 There have been numbers of calls for new public relations curricula aimed at educating staffs that can understand and meet increasing international social, economic and political complexities and challenges. (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, p. 13). The International Association of Universities (1998) supported the need for business schools to be more international in their strategy, claiming higher education must integrate an intercultural dimension into its teaching and research, if it is to fulfil its role and maintain excellence. (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 58). Another rationale for an international public relations course is the accelerating pace of societal and technological change today. These cha nges call for adaptations in academic curricula and professional development programs. There were written dozen papers on justification of international public relations education based on research in the different areas. Some went radical claiming that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“any curriculum that excludes international public relations courses is ineffective in addressing student and practitioner needs, particularly in the next century (21 century).(Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994) p.9 Factors what influence the development of IPRE are mostly the same, however they have different interpretations. The need for international courses in public relations is demonstrated further by the growing global recognition of public relations degree programs and education, a phenomenon that Cantor (1984) predicted more than twenty years ago. And indeed, previous investigation has established that the call for internationalisation of public relations education has been there for a long time and comes from both industry and academia sectors (Neff, 1991, Cottone et al., 1985). However, disagreements between practitioners and educators on a blueprint for international public relations education have also been documented (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994). A decade old survey of U.S. public relations educators and practitioners that explored the state of curricula and content in public relations education found that both practitioners and educators perceive need to incorporate courses and cont ent that will prepare future practitioners for the global landscape (Neff et al., 1999). A Public relations is a multidisciplinary area of study and practice that must change as rapidly as the context and society in which it exists (Baskin, 1989, p. 35). As public relations continues to be a globalised profession, curriculum should be updated to reflect the practice. Ten years later similar study has recorded, that having a global perspective and experience with a variety of cultures are necessary but lacking skills for advanced level practitioners (DiStaso et al., 2009, p.269). An important consideration in providing students with some skills in achieving cross-cultural understanding is the recognition that, as future business professionals and leaders, they will live in a society increasingly characterised by international labour mobility and multiculturalism. The international manager or employee will be an individual who will spend their working lives in several distinct job areas working for several organisations as well as making several sojourns to various international postings. This means that the new style employee will need to be cosmopolitan, multilingual, multifaceted and what Schneider Barsoux (1997, p. 157) refer to as a capacity to operate à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“across national borders somewhat like James Bond. Public relations education at all levels and in both communication and MBA programmes should educate students to practise public relations globally (Grunig and Grunig, 2002). However, not only do students need to be trained and prepared for this mobility, but even those who do not move to another nation face the recognition that the domestic work environment also requires some responsiveness to differing cultures (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 69). Sriramesh (2009, p.6) makes a reasonable argument that even textbooks in the US and the UK should contain more global cases and interpretations so as to give their own students a more international and holistic education, thus broadening their horizons. It is indicated that authors of universitys level public relations textbooks have not yet realised the growing importance of international public relations and thus deal marginally with it. The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) has drawn on its international membership to research and recommend standards for public relations education and has established the results of its work in two Gold papers in 1982 and 1990 (IPRA (1982) Gold paper No. 4, A Model for Public Relations Education for Professional Practice, and (1990) Gold Paper No.7, Public Relations Education Recommendations and Standards). (White, 1991) p.184-185 Not much has changed since that time. WAYS: Number of general papers were designed in response to the need for public relations education to produce well-trained, culturally sensitive practitioners (Miller, 1992, Ekachai and Komolsevin, 1998, Burbules and Torres, 2000, Bardhan, 2003, Dickerson, 2005, Tuleja, 2008). With the increasing importance of international communication, some educators had considered creating a course dedicated to international public relations (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, Taylor, 2001). In a special edition of Public Relations Review on developing teaching related materials, Taylor (2001) offered guidance to public relations educators on how to develop an international public relations curriculum because: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“New communication technologies and global communication processes create more frequent international communication (Taylor, 2001, p.2). Nevertheless, some of the Taylors conclusions sounded far too decisive: The most comprehensive way to internationalize the public relations curriculum is to offer a course dedicated to international public relations (p. 74). Creedon and Al-Khaja (2005) analysed how adding cultural competency to the list of skills and competencies required in educational programs presents an opportunity to educate a generation that will accept difference and value a global culture separate from national identity. Then again the study was rather limited the authors conducted a survey of accredited programs to determine whether or not a history course was required of their majors. Another empirical-based study argued that just talking about the importance if IPR in the classroom is not sufficient, students have to be able to live international public relations in order to understand its relevance (Bardhan, 1999, p. 19). An important portion of literature on international public relations education suggests the necessity for students to learn about other countries through immersion. According to Porth (Porth, 1997, Tuleja, 2008) the international study tour course may be a legitimate answer to critics of education who urge business schools to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“go global and to create stronger ties with the international business and academic communities. More specifically, recent research has also called into question the assumption of studying internationally. For instance, Hutchings et al. (2002, p. 58)suggests that the challenge for the education is how to devise a short-term study program that is effective in exposing international concepts to the student. Yet, foreign travel alone is not the panacea for internationalising PR education because it is difficult to manage even if having resources. Hutchings study is focused on going abroad, even so it may make some contribution to understanding of glo bal consciousness characterised as moving towards a recognition and appreciation of increasingly global diversity and interdependence. Arguments about which is the best approach to international public relations education, courses and its numbers, or changing the context with its live experience and observations, largely missed the important point that methods have to be fit for their purposes. For some purposes, this is the best, and in other cases the choice will be this and that. Furthermore, although those approaches rest on very different use of resources and possibilities, they can be complementary in the hands of future research and need to be incompatible. Many studies would benefit from mindfully using each approach for different purposes at different stages of the internationalisation. Fuller discussions of this are to be found in some public relations papers, including (Neff, 1991, Dibrova and Kabanova, 2004, Peterson and Mak, 2006, Chung, 2007/8, Dolby and Rahman, 2008). CHALLENGES/BARRIERS: Authors such as Kalupa and Carroll Bateman (1980) have suggested that public relations educators have failed maintain the currency of the teaching in relation to the practice. On the other hand, Holbrook (1985, 1995) has been one of the most prominent critics of the idea of selecting research topics based on what is of interest to practitioners. He has argued that such an orientation tarnishes the purity of the academic endeavour. Amongst other challenges Bardhan (1999) recorded that educators feel unprepared at present to handle the task effectively and lack of interest among students. Falb (1991, 1992) has claimed that because of putting public relations curriculums in either Mass Communications or Journalism public relations has been inhibited in its growth in academic and professional areas. Similar study was conducted by (Pincus et al., 1994), who argued that communication topics do not rate high in MBA programs: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of public relations topics in MBA programs, the profession will never realize entry to the highest levels of corporate decision making (1994: p.55) . Making an analogy, this statement might be extended by claiming that If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of international public relations concepts in Postgraduate programs, the profession will lack behind present state of research and practice. This statement finds a reflection in recent research as well. Papers like Sriramesh (2002) claim that it is time for educators to integrate experiences from other continents into the PR body of knowledge, thereby building PR curricula that contribute to training truly multicultural PR professionals. CONCLUSION: Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) underlined the compelling need for a text describing and explaining public relations practices and body of knowledge in different parts of the world. Their call for research has been taken up and largely because it proposed a framework, which made it easier to facilitate global research. Thereby, by critically examining the framework scholars in different countries enrich international public relations body of knowledge and provides prove or counter-arguments to the Global theory. Nonetheless, it might be argued that among those five factors, which have been put forward by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003), one is missing professional PR training. In this regard it can be concluded the following. Firstly, such indicator as level of professional training can be considered as a sixth factor influencing practicing public relations in country. Secondly, on the basis of a global concept can be developed a similar concept and subsequently applied to the study of inte rnational public relations education. Thirdly, basing on data provided from the five factors, it allowed to determine the degree of standardization vs. localization of IPR programs and courses and to identify barriers and obstacles. Achieving internationalisation of public relations education is concluded to be important for three reasons. First, because many graduating students will be finding employment internationally and benefit from having been educated to be effective in differing cultural settings. Second, because rapid changes in national immigration policies have meant that many more nations are considerably more multicultural than they have been in the past and citizens need to be more conscious of diversity in their national and organisational surroundings. Third, because the pace of changes in the international political economy necessitates that people must be responsive to international economic and business forces. Thus, students who receive an internationally focused public relations education should be more culturally and socially aware and prepared to cope with the demands of rapid international economic, political and social change (Hutchings et al., 2002). Professional education and training are one of the major issues in every country in which public relations is practised. Even the US, where there are hundreds of public relations education are frequently expressed, and senior practitioners rise questions about the value of existing public relations education programmes (White, 1991, p. 184). Sommerness and Beaman (1994) found only few offerings of university courses emphasising international public relations across the United States at that time. However, most recent study has shown that some authors (Hatzitos and Lariscy, 2008) report an increased interest in scholarly research in international public relations and an effort to internationalise the public relations curricula at many U.S. universities. Despite the fact that significant gaps were found between desired outcomes and those actually found in the opinions of both practitioner and educators, certain surveys (Neff et al., 1999) have revealed strong agreement between educator s and practitioners regarding the training, experience and expertise outcomes needed for career development in public relations. Thus, while the goals of public relations education to certain extent seem clear, the means of achieving those goals, including curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, may not be as clear. However, studies such as examining perception, asking whether or not IPR should be emphasised doesnt really contribute anymore as the concept have solidly grounded. There have been dozen papers reporting that call for a development. What more valuable for this particular research is the fact that international public relations education requires to be integrated into global PR perspective. International experiences, approaches and cases must be studied and shared between international academic societies. The literature review recorded a substantial gap in international public relations education research elsewhere than U.S. Therefore there is a need in further researching and describing development in IPRE globally. This particular study will explore perceptions and state of IPR education in two countries the United Kingdom and Russia.

Chlorine Essay -- essays research papers fc

Chlorine Chlorine is (at room temperature) a greenish-yellow gas that can be readily liquefied at 5170 Tarr or 6.8 atmospheres, at 20 C (68 F), and has a very disagreeable odor. It’s Element Symbol is Cl, atomic number is 17, and atomic mass is 35.453. Chlorine’s melting point is -101 C or 149.8 F. The boiling point is -34.05 C or -29.29 F, at one atmosphere pressure. Chlorine is a member of the halogen group. Chlorine was discovered by Swedish scientist Karl Wilhelm in 1784, but he first thought it was a compound, rather than an element. In 1810, Sir Humphrey Davy named it Chlorine, from the Greek word meaning "greenish-yellow". Chlorine is used in bleaching agents, disinfectants, monomers (plastics), solvents, and pesticides. It is also used for bleaching paper pulp and other organic materials, preparing bromine, (a poisonous element that at room temperature is a dark, reddish-brown), tetraethyl lead, and killing germs in water, particularly in swimming pools and hot tubs. Like every member of the halogen group, chlorine has a tendency to gain one electron and become a chloride ion. Chlorine strongly reacts with metals to form mostly water-soluble chlorides. Chlorine also strongly reacts with nonmetals such as sulfur, phosphorus, and other halogens. If you were to mix hydrogen and chlorine gases and keep them in a cool dark place, the mixture would be stable, but if it were exposed to sunlight, it wo...

Comparison of Wedding of India and China

The approach of these paper work is to know and compare the two country’s tradition when it comes to wedding. Talking about wedding, we all know that it is the important aspect when two people want to enter the life of having a family. According to Webster, wedding is the ceremony of marriage with its accompanying festive. And as I go on with these paper work, we will all know the different traditions in wedding of the two countries and its histories. To formally start this topic, we must first know the two country’s wedding history. In India, history of Indian Wedding says that early societies for social as well as political reasons had to have secure means for the perpetuation of the species and an institution to handle the granting of property rights and marriage was the institution for fulfilling that need. History of Indian Wedding says that early societies for social as well as political reasons had to have secure means for the perpetuation of the species and an institution to handle the granting of property rights and marriage was the institution for fulfilling that need. In Indian culture arranged marriages have a history since fourth century. The culture of arranged marriages has still survived modernization and industrialization in India. Ancient times, the marriages took place while the couple was very young. In fact, the boy`s parents searched for a matching alliance for him in his preadolescent age and then approached the girl`s family with the proposition. There used to be a middleman to look for alliance and propose it to each family about the match. He even acted as a negotiator, also would suggest a suitable date and hour for the marriage to take place after matching the bride and the groom`s birth charts, he further also would facilitate in decision of the venue suitable for each families. In Indian Weddings the bride`s family was the host for the function. In China the process began with an elaborate marriage proposal and acceptance. This process was placed in the hands of a go-between, who acted as a buffer between the two parties – a role similar to that of a real estate agent today. The important parties in proposal and betrothal negotiations were the parents of the prospective bride and groom, rather than the bride and groom themselves. â€Å"Marriage was for continuing the ancestral line and creating alliances between families –; too important a duty to be left in the rash hands of the young,† Costa explains. † When the boy’s parents identified a likely bride-to-be, they would send the go-between to present gifts to the girl’s parents and to sound out their feelings about the match. If the proposal was well-received, the go-between would obtain the date and hour of the girl’s birth recorded on a formal document. The groom’s family would place this document on the ancestral altar for three days. If no inauspicious omens, e. g. quarrels between the parents or a loss of property, took place within that time, the parents would give the information to a astrological expert to confirm that the young woman and their son would make a good match. If the boy’s family found the horoscope to be favourable, they gave the boy’s birth date and hour to the go-between to bring to the girl’s family, who would go through the same process. Only after both outcomes were favourable, would the two families arrange to meet. Finally face-to-face, each family evaluated the other in terms of appearance, education, character, and social position. If both were satisfied they would proceed to the betrothal. Since these is a paper work having a comparison of the two countries wedding tradition it must have the dresses they wear, the accessories the have, the meaning if averything they do and the astrological meanings which I’ve learned that are all important to the people of the two countries. Let’s start with their clothing or dresses they wear. In Chinese Red is central to the wedding theme of China. It signifies love, joy and prosperity and is used in a variety of ways in Chinese wedding traditions. The bride's wedding gown is often red, as are the wedding invitations, and wedding gift boxes or envelopes for cash gifts. Even the bride and groom's homes are decorated in red on the wedding day while in India, Indian brides wear pink and red saris on their wedding day, adorning themselves extravagantly with as much jewelry as possible. In these two countries it is important to know their astrology, if they are compatible to each other. Because they believe that having the compatible horoscope means they will be having abundant life ahead. According to the encyclopaedia titled Americana, the Hindu marriage rite opens with prayers by a Hindu priest. The priest pins one end of concentrated linen to the bride and groom’s clothing while the other side is on the bricks as a symbol of unity. The couple then walk around the sacred area. After the seventh time, the sealing of contract is done. The Ceremony may last as long as two hours. At the end a whole coconut is broken as the priest blesses the couple. hile in China, few religious ceremonies are today in either Communist or Nationalist China. Marriages often take place in public hall. The rite is simply an announcement with a couple’s marriage by their presence before at least two witnesses. The marriage is then recorded with the state authorities. In Indian culture arranged marriages have a history since fourth century. The culture of arranged marriages h as still survived modernization and industrialization in India. Ancient times, the marriages took place while the couple was very young. In fact, the boy`s parents searched for a matching alliance for him in his preadolescent age and then approached the girl`s family with the proposition. There used to be a middleman to look for alliance and propose it to each family about the match. He even acted as a negotiator, also would suggest a suitable date and hour for the marriage to take place after matching the bride and the groom`s birth charts, he further also would facilitate in decision of the venue suitable for each families. In Indian Weddings the bride`s family was the host for the function. While in Chinese systemization of apparently pre-existing elements of traditional Chinese wedding ceremony is generally credited to scholars of the Warring States period , 402-221 B. C. Three venerable texts, The Book of Rites, The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, and the Baihu Tong outline the Three Covenants and the Six Rites, that were considered necessary elements of a marriage. However, the full ritual was so complicated that even within the span of the Warring States period, the etiquette underwent changes and simplification. What remained constant were the chief objectives: joining and enhancing the two families and ensuring succession with numerous descendants. Reverence to parents and ancestors, omens to encourage fertility and wealth, financial and social obligations contracted by both families at the betrothal, extensive gift giving etiquette, and the bride’s incorporation into her husband’s family are recurring elements. Since these are the most essential thing in their wedding traditions, it is still being practiced by them. I have learned that they have some comparison though Indians are Hindus and Chinese are Buddhists, for example with their astrological means. But I can say that the Indians has more preparations than Chinese and also, China’s marriage are more simple than with the Indian people. The Chinese practices the monogamy marriage while the Indian practices the polygamy. But what’s important with the two countries is to have their wedding done and to have it in blessed way by the priest and under their GODs according to their religion. Reference http://www.indianetzone.com/2/history_indian_wedding.htm

Analysis of Mastering Management Example

Analysis of Mastering Management Example Analysis of Mastering Management – Assignment Example ï » ¿Mastering Management The results of the two different emotional intelligence tests were nearly equal. The textbook assessment indicated a score of 83, which was on the high end of the second quartile. The online assessment from queendom.com provided me with a score of 79. The online emotional intelligence test was a bit more sophisticated than the textbook as it asked for perceptions of images of people experiencing emotions in certain social situations. This might explain the slightly lower score. However, it is very clear based on the results that I have a high emotional intelligence as compared to average scores. I have always been very good at figuring out how people are feeling in certain situations simply by listening to their tone of voice, watching body language, and using active listening to understand what is being said. Many times in my personal life, people have told me that I am very in tune with their feelings and do a good job of showing empathy. I also believe that I am quite good at controlling my emotional responses, especially in professional versus social situations. Therefore, I am not very surprised by the results of either EI assessment. The tolerance of ambiguity scale returned a score of 63. This is the top quartile and much higher than average. What this means, according to the results, is that I would not like a job with a great deal of risk or uncertainty. Some jobs that would not be good choices based on the scores would be freelancing, stock market brokering, or likely even health care services since they are often unpredictable and different each day. Comfortable jobs would be those with high security and less risk such as a laboratory technician, financial auditor, or any other job with very strict rules and predictable pay scales. The locus of control assessment returned a score of three, which was in the second quartile. With such a low score, it means that I have an internalized locus of control. This is very much how I view myself. I often take responsibility for my own destiny and believe that it is up to me to set goals and meet success. I do not believe that others in my environment have much control over my future and I will often work around people who are negative to achieve positive results. Having a low score in the locus of control would be very beneficial in the workplace. Managers need to be role models in order to gain attention and loyalty from followers. By showing others that you can master your own fate, it will inspire others to try to adopt these behaviors. Coaching and mentoring would be very positive traits in management since the internal locus of control would continue to reinforce self-esteem and self-sufficiency in their job roles. It would also help to improve team performance and reduce conflict by showing others that they can be independent and not use excuses about another’s poor performance for team failures.

Huffman Coding Sychronized Multimedia Integration Language

Huffman Coding Sychronized Multimedia Integration Language EIE 380 Web-based Multimedia SMIL Mini-Project ReportDEPARTMENT OFELECTRONIC AND INFORMATION ENGINEERINGEIE380 Web-Based MultimediaSMIL Mini-ProjectProject ReportDate: 19th April, 2010IntroductionNowadays, lecturers often use Powerpoint or a blackboard when teaching in a classroom. However, Powerpoint and blackboards are difficult to describe multimedia presentations. To describe multimedia presentations, Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) could be used.SMIL is a W3C recommended XML markup language for describing multimedia presentations. It can be used for timing and controlling streaming media clips. Media items like text, image, video and audio files can be included in SMIL. In this mini-project, SMIL would be used to create a presentation for Huffman Coding.ObjectivesThe objectives of this project are to generate a simple multimedia slide show using SMIL and to present one conceptual idea for the course materials of EIE380.About the ProjectThis project generates a simple multimedia slide show using SMIL to teach the basic concepts of Huffman Coding.JuliasetsdkjpegtreeIn the beginning, it gives a brief introduction in Huffman Coding. Then, the Huffman Algorithm is described. A Huffman Coding example will then be given in gif file to illustrate how to pick two nodes having the lowest probabilities and then create a parent node for them. The parent node is then assigned the sum of the children's probabilities. After that, a gif file will be given to illustrate to users how to encode the system. Users can then choose a symbol to see the codeword assigned to the corresponding symbol. After seeing the codeword, users can learn the prefix property of Huffman coding. They can click on a symbol and see that a shorter codeword will never form the start of a longer codeword. Next, a gif file will be given to demonstrate the...

Heathly Eating, Obesity and Food Industry essay

Heathly Eating, Obesity and Food Industry essay Heathly Eating, Obesity and Food Industry essay Heathly Eating, Obesity and Food Industry essayObesity is one of the major health problems nowadays. In general, obesity is defined as the excessive accumulation of fat and obesity is defined as abnormal accumulation of fat. According to the norms of WHO, the measure for the relationship of weight and height is body mass index (BMI) which is calculated as the relation of weight (in kg) divided by the square of height (in sq.  m.) (White 100). According to WHO, persons who have BMI of 25 and more are considered to be overweight and persons whose BMI is 30 or more are obese (White 100). Excess weight and obesity have multiple negative consequences such as cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, diabetes, etc.Scientists started speaking about the epidemics of obesity when the number of obese and overweight people started rapidly increasing. Since 1980, the rate of obese and overweight people in the world almost doubled (White 99). In 2008, approximately 35% of all adults w ere overweight (Rigby 4207). Furthermore, the majority of people (65%) live in the regions where excess weight and obesity cause more deaths than malnutrition and underweight (Rigby 4207). There are many factors contributing to obesity, but the main causes of it are the decrease in physical activity and the increase of high-calorie foods. An important role in preventing obesity belongs to healthy eating and the choice of the right products. However, modern food industry offers many preprocessed, high-calorie and carbohydrate-rich foods. The purpose of this essay is to discuss three essays devoted to the problems of obesity, healthy eating and food industry and to illustrate that food industry is one of the major causes of the obesity epidemics in the modern world.The first essay explored in this paper is the study Food access and obesity by Martin White. According to White, one of the important causes of obesity is the availability of retailed foods and their accessibility (p.99). W hite reviews the studies devoted to social patterns of dietary intake and their relationships with retailing. It is notable that obesity correlates with low socioeconomic status. There might be different reasons of such correlation: the impact of local food choice on the diet, the impact of prices on the diet, the availability of healthier products, etc. White emphasizes the results confirmed by several studies: the availability of healthier products in supermarkets is higher than in convenience stores and local stores (White 101). This fact might partially explain the relationship between poor dietary habits and low socioeconomic status. Indeed, traveling to supermarkets and stores with better choice of products requires a car, and low-income households might not have a car or find it too expensive to travel such distances to purchase products.One more factor which influences dietary habits is eating ready-prepared food. It was determined that there were more fast-food restaurants that restaurants with healthier options in low-income areas (White 103). Furthermore, low-income households are likely to choose less expensive ready meals, which are commonly less healthy (White 103). Therefore, White claims that although there are no studies directly showing the relationship between food industry, food retailing and obesity, the combination of socioeconomic factors and retail patterns contributes to the development of obesity, especially in low-income areas.The second essay by Charles Marwick is named Food industry obfuscates healthy eating message. In this essay, Marwick shows how food companies erode the key idea of the health messages promoted by the U.S. government eating less. While the key to healthy weight is eating less (taking in less calories), food companies encourage customers to make their choice. The slogans in advertisements of food companies are modified in such a way that the message to eat less is removed, and instead the message to choose other foods is promoted. For example, the call of healthcare professionals to reduce the intake of sugar was transformed into the message choose beverages and foods that limit your intake of sugar under the pressure of sugar industry companies (Marwick 121). Marwick illustrates how the pressure of business lobbyists affects the information exchange and media coverage of important food-related questions. He argues that the contact between regulatory agencies, researchers and the society should not be mediated by businesses, since the latter tend to obfuscate certain messages in order to avoid losses. Due to the conflicts of interest between food industry and healthcare institutions, the protection of health of U.S. citizens might be under threat.The author of the third essay, Eating and obesity the new world disorder, Neville Rigby, explores the onset of obesity epidemic and various factors contributing to the increase of obesity. Among the major factors mentioned by Rigby there are fund amental shifts in the nature of a typical human diet, the dominance of agribusiness corporations, new paradigms of consumption centered around foods combining sugars and fats. Rigby also points out that less evident factors might be the major causes of the obesity epidemic epigenetics, environmental pollutants which mimic hormones and other biological causes.Rigby, like Marwick, also criticizes the advertising used by food companies which encourages consumers to choose a balanced diet (while still eating non-healthy products). Furthermore, Rigby emphasizes that the interests of food companies are against public health, obesity prevention and other disease prevention. What is clear is that the failure to implement effective measures to improve dietary health makes it certain that the obesity epidemic will remain one of the biggest threats to health in the 21st century (Rigby 4209).The key thesis of this paper is the following: food industry is one of the major causes of the obesity epidemics, and it is necessary to undertake actions at the international level in order to prevent further damage to public health and to stop the worldwide increase of obesity. Human brain evolved during the time when foods rich with fat and sugar were rare and when food was not so readily available. As a result, human beings tended to label foods with high concentration of fat and/or sugar as tasty. Currently the lifestyle of human beings has changed, and it is possible to get access to food when needed. However, a large number of foods is not healthy in the sense that these foods are very high-calorie. The instincts claim that these foods should be eaten first, and the sales of high-calorie foods soar. In reality, food companies are readily exploiting the associations of human brain to increase profits regardless of the impact of such food choice on public health.Furthermore, food companies tend to erode the messages of healthcare institutions (Marwick 121) and disrupt the releva nce of research studies by funding research studies with the results favorable for food companies. In this way, food companies are discrediting the scientific community and affect the mechanisms of protecting public health. Food and agricultural corporations tend to crowd out independent farmers who do not use aggressive agricultural technologies from the market; as a result, consumers are forced to purchase genetically modified foods, foods with nitrates and other chemical compounds. In addition, the expansion of fast-food companies and the limited choice of healthy food products in smaller retail stores leads to further deterioration of dietary choices, especially among low-income people.Therefore, it is possible to conclude that food and agricultural companies have a negative impact on public health and significantly contribute to the epidemics of obesity which is taking place worldwide. It is necessary to adopt international regulations preventing food companies from aggressive practices and to combine these regulations with educating consumers about healthy dietary habits and the dangers of obesity.

Idealism and Reality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Idealism and Reality - Essay Example As everyone do not own same attitude towards life, some people love to take life as a challenge. They are not influenced by emotional attachments, rather they like solitary freedom. Christopher was one of them. Let us focus on different angles of his character reflected in the story. Christopher was an intelligent student as well as a good athlete. We can consider him as philanthropic as he had a soft corner for homeless and foodless people and always helped them. He was very pertinacious and determined. He did only those things he wanted to do. Nobody could change his decision. According to his father, he was overconfident as he got success in everything he did in his life. He was also very impatient. He was inspired by the great novelist Leo Tolstoy who relinquished his all in search of self discovery and Christopher followed his steps. The goal of his life was to search his true self. We can summarize his character as a dreamy young man passionate about the truth of life and tried to discover the same in his own way. As reality is completely different from dreams, his naive mistakes finally caused his death. But we should appreciate his courage and obsession towards his dreams. According to American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, "No one should negotiate their dreams. Dreams must be free to flee and fly high." Christopher must have the same belief. If we look into the flow of his life, we will see that he always furnished his dream with the highest priority. Christopher had a luxurious life as he belonged to a wealthy family in Washington D.C. He completed his graduation in 1990 from Emory University. He had a loving family along with plentiful money in his savings account. He was also offered a good job. He was getting everything which is dream of each common man. But he declined to enjoy these comforts and donated everything he owned. He cut off his bond with family and friends and tramped around different places of USA. But he did not settle anywhere. His pleasant personality affected and impressed every one he met during his short lifespan. Finally he decided to spend some days in Alaskan Wilderness. He was well aware of the fact that this trip ma y be his last one but he wanted to live his dream. With the help of a truck driver he reached Alaska and managed to find a deserted bus which he made his base camp. But in his fascination he did some foolish mistakes. He did not carry enough food with him as he found hunting more exciting. He did not take a compass or watch even a map with him. It was the greatest mistake which he compensated by giving away his life. Though he has done so many mistakes, we should value his determination and willpower as without nominal amenities of daily life he managed to stay there more than two months. At last he realized

SWOT analysis on Apple company Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

SWOT analysis on Apple company - Research Paper Example SWOT Analysis Strength Apple has been known for its innovation strategy and is one of the most successful companies. The company is known for its innovation, its unique ability to design and develop the company’s operating systems. The strength of the company lies in providing the customers with new product and solutions with a superior ease of use. The company investment in the research and development along with marketing and advertisement also adds on to the list of its strength (Apple Inc.-a, 2011, p.1). The company products are in high demand for example, sale of iPod increased and about 100 million iPods were sold making it the fastest selling music player in history (Apple Inc.-b, 2011). The sale of its notebooks products are also very strong and represent a huge contribution to Apple’s income. Apple is one of the most influential and established brand in the world and thus has a set of loyal customers who advocates the brand. The brand not only attracts new cust omers but also retains them. Weaknesses It was reported that Apple iPod Nano had faulty screen. Apple has admitted that there was problem with its new iPod Nano due to a manufacturing problem. The company claims that this problem has affected less than a 10th of 1% of all the Nanos shipped (BBC News, 2005). The music industry have demanded to increase the price of its music downloaded file as many of the music industry makes money from iTunes rather than from the sales of the original CDs. According to Steve Jobs, Apple has made a sale of more than half a billion songs with its iTune Music store capturing about 82% of the market share in US (Cohen & MacCentral, 2005). The product life cycle of the products of Apple is very short and thus revenues depend on the launch of new products and services. Market share of Apple is behind from its competitors such as Microsoft. Opportunities As more and more consumers are getting individualistic and conscious about a brand, Apple’s oppo rtunity is to target those set of consumers. Apple can introduce more new models to cater to the needs of its customers. Apple has an opportunity to develop its iTunes into mobile phone format. Downloads could be available through USB cables, new technology and strategic alliances which would offer a wide opportunities for Apple. The music can be downloaded from Podcasts and played on the iPods where the listener can subscribe for free and revenue can be generated from sales of various other downloads. Another opportunity lies with Apple is with the company’s smart phones. At present Samsung has outshines Apple smart phone thus giving an opportunity to Apple to come up with new features and capture the market share (Whitney, 2011). Since the PC and mobile industry is growing at a steady rate, thus Apple being one of the successful brands has a wide opportunity to explore and expand itself into other countries such as into Asia. There has been an increase in the demand for onl ine music and other applications such as the cloud making a room for Apple to expand into these sectors and generate high revenue. Threats The biggest threat for Apple comes from the high level of competition from the technology markets. A successful market attracts competitors and Apple works hard on its Research and Development and in its marketing tool to retain its competitive position. The popularity of

Different approaches to performance management Essay

Different approaches to performance management - Essay Example Performance management is using by countries such GDP, organizations and individuals. Performance management is troubled to get the best performance from person, but goes extra in that it also aspire to get the best performance from the team and from the organization as an entire (R. Wayne Mondy). Performance management derives from the human resource management approach as a strategic and incorporated approach to the management and growth of people. The procedure of recognize, evaluating and mounting the work performance of employees in the organization, so that the organizational purpose and objectives are more efficiently achieved, while at the similar time benefiting employees in terms of credit, receiving feedback, catering for labor needs and offering career leadership. This definition emphasizes that performance management is a procedure. We can see the exemplify following: From this definition, we can believe that performance management is worried by means of humanizing not only the performance of the individual, but also the performance of the team and the organization. ... gnificant thing of performance management is set up a system in which individuals and groups take blame for the continuous development of commerce processes, and of their own skills and contributions. 2.2 The Objectives of Performance Management System 2.2.1 Discrimination A manager must try to discriminate objectively between those who are contributing to the achievement of the organization's objectives and those who are not. In other word, a manager must be talented to appraisal an individual's past performance and assess strengths, level of effort and areas to reward and expand subordinates. Here the focal point is on what the employee has really done in the past, and an effort is made to build on the employee's strengths and make development in other areas so that the employee can carry out more efficiently in the future (Dessler, 1999). 2.2.2 Reward For performance to be encouraged, rewards are necessary. When a managers reward a part of subordinates for their past work, other subordinate will recognized they must work harder in the future. Reward is also a useful tool for motivate employees, suing a system like performance-related pay, to best performance at work. 2.2.3 Development The third objective of the performance management is growth. It includes expand person, term and organization. Performance management as a system concerns not only just for the past, but also for the future. When employees reach their full potential, the organization can also benefit fully from their abilities and contributions (Arthur Sherman, 1998, p.323). 2.2.4 Communication As a two ways system, performance management can also construct a kind of feedback flanked by employees and managers. Employee communiqu is a basic part in the system. It is because an effectual performance

Impacts of Immigration on Origin and Host Countries Research Paper

Impacts of Immigration on Origin and Host Countries - Research Paper Example This is because they are likely to move out of their native homes at one point in search of employment or for other reasons thus it is important that they understand the consequences of immigration. Immigration refers to the movement of individuals from their country or region to other countries that they are not native. In most cases, people move to other areas for the purpose of settling permanently. It is usually a result of a number of factors some of which include economic and political reasons, natural disasters or one’s willingness to change the environment. Immigration is also associated with both negative and positive impacts. On one hand, they may fill the workforce gap in the country they might have moved into that may have been created as a result of the aging population especially in the western countries. This is usually the case where Africans move to the western countries. On the other hand, the immigrants may influence the natives negatively by introducing culture in the new environment that could be detrimental to the culture of the country that they will have moved to. Studies indicate that immigration has been found to have negative impacts on the native population. Data 1: Research has shown that the majority of the immigrants consist of the young population that possesses high degrees in different domains. They usually move from their native homes especially those in the developing nations in search of job opportunities in the developed nations. Backing: In the developing nations, there is a little industrialization and thus high unemployment cases due as there is competition for the few jobs available. Individuals then move out of their countries and in turn this causes brain drain. This is because as they move out, the number of elite individuals decreases.