Communication Essay Example

Communication Paper It also creates feelings against others such as friendships, relationships, enemies etc, which are all produced by communication and thou it we wouldnt be able to express any of this emotion and thoughts. It helps in the workplace and in the general public, as you are then able to communicate in different ways because there are a lot of different communications that you will see and come across all the time. So knowing the purpose of communication helps you to learn and use communication in your day to day life. 1. Explain the reasons for knowing the audience to whom communications are presented Knowing the audience to whom you present verbal communication to is important because you will have to analyses first how you are going to monomaniac with them and whether they will understand what you have to say. If you had a board meeting and you had to present your idea of a new product in front of the head department of your place of work you would have to work out how to present it to them, because youve got to keep them interested. Because you are presenting a new idea you would probably make a Powering presentation on the computer with all the information you need on it and talk alongside it so everybody understands. However because they are of higher authority, you would use more complex/technical words to how you know what you are on about and youd also make sure layout, spelling, punctuation and grammar etc was correct. Also you would give everybody a hand out which goes into more detail and always keep eye contact. Everything would have to be formal. We will write a custom essay sample on Communication specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Communication specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Communication specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer On the other hand if you were doing a talk in a school on behalf of your company you would be less formal and communicate more through body language to keep the children interested. So knowing your audience is important. 1. 3 Explain the purpose of knowing the intended outcomes of communication The purpose of knowing the intended outcomes of communication is so you an use communication effectively in day to day life and be able to send and receive clear messages without and confusion or misunderstanding. It will help you hold a conversation with someone and understand what they are saying and then youll be able to reply fluently so they can understand fully what you are saying. Youll be able to learn from other people, how they use communication and try the different ways you find yourself. Knowing the outcomes allows you to prepare yourself in situations. If you know what different tones of voice mean, they you can judge what mood someone is in, o you can then prepare yourself, as to how to communicate with that person. You will also be able to gain feedback, knowing the outcomes, because you will be able to ask people and get them to understand your work and then get information back on what they think of it. It will build relationships, especially in the workplace and you will be able to understand and communicate without any complications. 1. 4 Describe methods of communication and when to use them There are three main methods of communication: Oral, Written and Body Language, all of these are successful and well used Ways of communicating. We use all of these on a regular day to day basis. Oral Communication is otherwise known as verbal and this is the most used form of communication. Many people in a business environment use verbal communication to present information in things such as boardroom meetings. It is also used to phone clients or customers, so we orally communication with many people. People who are listening to someone speak can communicate back and if they dont understand anything they are being told, they can orally communicate back and ask them what they said again or explain it in more detail. So oral immunization requires both speaking and listening skills especially in a business environment to ensure everything works along with everything else. Written communication is also used a lot within a Business environment as many emails, documents and letters are made to colleagues, customers etc. Written communication normally holds a lot more information in which people can look at or read to themselves and study in more detail. It is used to produce documents that can be stored for later use or send memos to colleagues or the min tutees of a meeting that then gets sent off to the colleagues. All written communication normally gets sent to someone, is given to someone to read, proof for certain things or is archived for later use. Body Language is often used as an expression as it sometimes helps people to communicate, people often show body language if they are doing a presentation or they are in a meeting. Your body language, facial expressions say a lot to whom you are communicating with and so getting them right when speaking to certain people is crucial when dealing with customers especially. Also you should maintain eye contact when talking to someone as it shows you are eager and confident. Sign language is linked in to this as well because deaf people use this to communicate with people who are deaf or people who arent, it can be learnt quite easily. A lot of businesses that have employed deaf people have had most of their employees taught how to use sign language or at least how to fully communicate with a deaf person. This is so no one feels left out or outnumbered. Understand how to communicate in writing 2. 1 Identify relevant sources of information that may be used when preparing written communication There are many different sources you can use when preparing for written immunization such as: Books, magazines, leaflets, the internet, dictionaries, thesaurus, newspapers, articles, discussions etc. All of these can help for any research or planning you need in preparation for your written communication. 2. Explain the communication principles for using electronic forms Of written communication in a business environment The decision of turning to electronic communication in a work environment is an effective and efficient way of using written communication. The reasons for doing this are because it reduces the amount of paper waste in the office, s more things will be sent via email and not printed off, or letters getting sent. Also its a much faster way of communicating as you can just send an email in seconds where as if you send a letter, it could take days to get to the destination. You can also send one email to as many people as you like quickly instead of sending out loads of individual letters out. However there are rules when it comes to work emails, there is no personal use; all content should be appropriate and relate to work subjects. 2. 3 Explain different styles and tones of language and situations when they ay be used for written communication There are many different styles of writing and they can be used in many different situations. A few examples are: If you are writing a letter to argue, you obviously have a problem with something and something has upset or annoyed you. You dont want to sound too aggressive, so you need to make it sound assertive but not too harsh and make them hear a firm tone of voice when they are reading it. It would need to be in a well presented, accurate and formal style in order for the recipient, to believe you are being professional. If its a letter of apology o are writing you need to sound sympathetic and sorry for whatever reason and so you need them to believe your tone of voice is soft and caring for them. The style you would use for this kind Of letter is formal but simple, it needs to be easy to understand but formal so they can see you are being professional about the matter. If you were sending an memo email to a colleague, you would just make it sound normal, tone of voice you would usually use in conversation. Unless it is urgent then you want it too sound more firm. The style would just be informal and short because its just a reminder to another work mate. 4 Explain the reasons for selecting and using language that suits the purpose of written communication The reasons we have to select different uses of languages in written communication depend on the audience. We have to use language that they can understand easily and are able to reply to with ease. For example, if we were writing a letter to a client/customer then we would use simple but formal language. We would be formal because we need to show that we are professional with our customers, also we have to make it simple to meet the needs of the majority of customers in case they have difficulty reading etc. So thats why we have to select and use certain languages. However when sending a short memo email to a work colleague you can make it informal and short as long as they understand it. So you can see there are differences in who you communication with. 2. 5 Describe ways of organizing, structuring and presenting written information so it meets the needs of different audiences Written communication can be organized by reviewing the needs of your audience and then planning what needs to be done. If you were writing for a customer with eye sight difficulty then you would have to organism the written ext to how they could read and understand it. So you would have to plan that the writing would have to be bigger than the average font size. If you were writing for a highly professional person, you would also have to review the needs of them, you would have to use a wide range of vocabulary and be SUre you know what you are talking about. Then you have to think about the structure of the written information. If you were sending letters then you would have to ensure that it is in Paragraphs, contains the correct use of spelling, punctuation and grammar, and that the audience can understand it. This includes the size if the text. You would present the letters in a professional way and it should be on letter headed paper to show that you are a company who likes to show their professionalism. You would also have to post these items and preferably in first class to ensure the intended receiver gets this written information ASAP. 2. 6 Describe ways of checking written information for accuracy of content There are a few ways of checking for accuracy in written communication such as; proofreading get someone else to read your work, as someone else might be able to spot mistakes that you havent been able to pick up on, its always a good idea to get a second opinion, then you can improve from the feedback they give you. Drafting This way, you start with a draft, which is a rough copy of the final thing, you can change what you want and make it how it needs to be and then once it is of high enough standard and accuracy, you then make a final copy which is the one you would use. Spell Check This is a feature you can use if you are doing written communication on the computer. There is an option you can use which will check your written piece of information for spelling, punctuation and grammar. This will then ask you if o would like it to correct these things. If you do, it then is accurate. They are just a few ways in which your work can be checked for accuracy. 2. 7 Explain the purpose of accurate use of grammar, punctuation and spelling in written communication The purpose of using spelling, punctuation and grammar accurately is so you and others can read the written communication without problem. All written information should flow and be understood by most people. Without the accurate use of these writing techniques, no one would be able to read the written communication you have provided, as it wouldnt flow and it loudest really make any sense, without things such as full stops and capital letters. So using these things will make people want to read it also because they can easily understand it. 2. 8 Explain what is meant by Plain English, and why it is used Plain English is a simple and direct piece of text or verbal communication; it can be used in either way of communicating. It is a straightforward piece of text that uses words that get straight to the point and makes sense so that someone can understand what it is about. People use Plain English when communicating because everyone/or most people can understand it, whether t be written down or spoken. When people see Plain English they can easily read it as it is words that are common, put together to make a short paragraph that explains something. It also wont take long for the person to read/listen to it and understand what it is trying to say as it is very clear. So it is used to make good points in meetings and demonstrations as people will be more interested and taken in by smoothing they can clearly understand. 2. 9 Explain the purpose of proofreading and checking work The purpose of proof reading any work you do is because you need to ensure he reader will know what you are trying to say and be able to read it without problem. So you need to proof read your work to look for any mistake you may have made, it could cause more problems if you dont spot the mistakes as others could read something completely different to what you mean. Also make sure you havent left out any important information as this is the main part of your work and need to be done with accuracy. You need to make sure it flows because if it doesnt, it wont make sense and will be hard to read. Also if you arent sure about your work, get someone else to check it and then advance on what they say, if anything. Its easier to proof read because if you gave your work in to someone without doing so, they could hand it back and youd have to re-do the whole thing. 2. 10 Explain the purpose of recognizing work that is important and work that is urgent When given work to do by different people within the workplace you need to know how to priorities so you can do things in the order they need to be done in. So for example if your supervisor asks you to print out the agenda for a meeting that is in 10 minutes and a work colleague has asked you to rite up a complaint letter, you would have to decide which need to be done first. Old personally sort them in urgency before importance so I would do the print out for the meeting first. We know this is urgent because the meeting the supervisor needs it for is in 10 minutes. Therefore I would to the letter after; even thought it is important, it is not as urgent as havent been given a timescale for doing it. So because its important it would take a little bit longer than writing a normal letter because the style, punctuality, spelling and grammar all has to be perfect as something important is being said within the otter. 2. 11 Describe organizational procedures for saving and filing written In my workplace the procedures for saving a filing any piece of written communication, such as PODs, Manifests, Emails, Letters etc. Are as follows: PODs, Manifests and any other Proof of Delivery is filed in filing cabinets in the office and when we run out of room we store the oldest ones in the Archive room in the warehouse in case we need to retrieve them in the future. Emails are archived in the mailing system so all emails we send and receive are kept in case they need to be traced back or needed to prove any mints between sites. Letters are stored with Anita as she receives all post that comes to this site and she sorts them. If we save any documents on the computer, we have to name them appropriately and make sure they are saved in the Drive, which everyone has access too. 3 Understand how to communicate verbally 3. Describe ways of verbally presenting information and ideas clearly When verbally presenting information in front of work colleagues or those above you, you need to ensure everything you want to say, is said in a way they can understand. You need to make sure you use the right sort Of engage, for example it would be formal if it was in your workplace and treat them no different than you would any other time. You need to be confident and believe in yourself as if you are shaky and cant get your words out they wont be able to understand clearly what you are trying to put across. Also you should be presentable and maintain eye contact to show you known what you are talking about and get the point straight across to those who are listening. Speak loud and clear and ensure you can be heard, they wont be able to here you if you mumble. 3. 2 Explain ways of making contributions to discussions that help to achieve objectives You can achieve objectives all the time by making contributions to discussions, because you can advance on others opinions and work tasks can be done in a more efficient way and also it can be done as a team. Expressing your opinion as well as listening to others gives you a chance to improve your work and also it makes yourself heard if you speak up with your thoughts. One way of doing so is producing a presentation/discussion that puts across all of your ideas along with your colleagues, so you can work towards hitting any objectives that may or may not have been Set. It improves confidence, skills and the work itself if everyone has an input when achieving objectives in the workplace. 3. Describe ways of adapting verbal contributions to suit different audiences, purposes and situations There are many ways to adapt ways of verbally communicating for different audiences, purposes and situations; you just have to assess the situations you are in. If you were in the situation of being in a meeting/discussion in the workplace, you would change how you normally verbally communicate as you will be expressing your opinion and trying to get yourself heard, so you are outing the purpose of the meeting. You would also have calm but firm voice and use formal language as your audience would be your employer/ colleagues. If you were in a customer meeting you would have to make sure you get your point across and that you use appropriate things to talk about and also ensure that the person can understand you, speak clearly and care for their feelings, use a softer tone of voice. If you were taking a phone call, its important to change the tone of your voice to suit the audience of the phone call, as if you dont sound enthusiastic and ready to speak then they Old get annoyed or agitated. You need to speak clearly in case the line is down and ensure the audience can understand what you are saying. If you were talking to someone who is deaf it might be a good idea to adapt to sign language so you can easily communicate. 3. 4 Describe how to use and interpret body language Body language is used all the time without you knowing it, so its not something you just use once in a while. You would use it to express your feelings or thoughts on something or someone, for example if you are in a group meeting you would look enthusiastic and some you would be smiling, ye contact, sitting up straight etc. This shows you are interesting in what the person is saying. However if you dont pay attention to your body language you could give off a bad image. If you were sitting in the meeting not interested, you would more than likely be sitting there with a frown, biting your nails, slouching, arms crossed etc. So you can see a big difference in how you express yourself. You can also interpret body language if you learn how to read it, you can know what another person is thinking just by looking at their body language and so you can communicate in a silent way in the aerospace. 3. Describe how to use and interpret tone of voice In the workplace me and every other member of staff have to control and monitor when we are using our tone of voice in certain situations. You can come across as being assertive or to quiet if you dont use the correct tone of voice for the correct situation in what you are in. For example if you were having a friendly chat with someone about work you would use your normal soft tone of voice, whereas if we were in a group meeting expressing opinions the tone of voice will be a bit more stern as you need to get your views across o all. However if you are giving or receiving a disciplinary the tone of voice would be more harsh as you have obviously made a mistake and you need to know that it needs to be altered and you need to acknowledge it. Also when speaking to or communicating with people in the workplace you need to carefully interpret the tone of voice of others, as you could get the wrong idea and make the situation uncomfortable and maybe cause conflict within the 3. Describe methods of active listening When taking part in active listening, as the listener you need to make it clear o the speaker that you fully understand and hear what they are saying. There are five steps to do so: Pay attention Keep eye contact with the speaker to show that you are caring for their thoughts and try not to let anything distract you. Listen and watch the body language of the other person as that expresses a lot when someone speaks. Also dont interrupt and start other conversations as this can be off putting for the speaker and will ruin the relationship between the two of you. Show that you are listening at all times use your body language to show this by occasionally nodding your dead, smiling and using other facial expressions because they too will be watching your body language to ensure that you are actively listening to them. You should also encourage them to talk about everything they want to talk about by using small verbal comments to show that you are still listening but you want to hear more. Provide Feedback When you are listening to what the speaker has to say, you cant judge them or jump to any assumptions about them, you are purely there to listen and to show you understand. So to show this you must give short feedback, paraphrasing is he best way to do so, as it is you reflecting back to them what they have just been talking about in a short sentence every now and again. Dont interrupt Let the speaker speak and only speak when they have a break or have finished what they are saying as it may cause the speaker to think you are being rude and dont understand, or want to hear what they are talking about. Respond appropriately Be honest with the speaker and explain to them why you feel the way you do and show them that everyone has different opinions and treat them as you would anybody else, with respect. 7 Describe the benefits of active listening The benefits of active listening, is that the speaker will always know if you are fully taking in what they are saying and tattoo are respecting what they have to say. It shows you genuinely want to know and understand what you are being told. This then develops a good relationship between the two people or more if in a group. Doing this is a workplace is very beneficial as then colleagues can express themselves and talk to each other knowing that they are being heard. It will also bring the speaker and listener closer to each there and also it can give the speaker disclosure which is what they sometimes need as the listener never judges in active listening. It makes the speaker feel as if they are resolving their problems when they speak out and so having someone who is listening and responding to their thoughts is good and relieves them of any pressure they feel. . 8 Explain the purpose of summarizing verbal communication This is important in a Business Environment as it shows that you have listened to the whole conversation and now you are ready to briefly look back on that and make any comment s or show how you feel about it all. Its a ways o bring the subject of conversation to a close and make any notes or ask any questions about any points you werent sure of. It also allows you to check each persons understanding of what has been said to ensure they have understood it in the way it was meant to and also it refreshes your memory in case you forgot something you felt was important or needed to be spoken about again. 4 Understand the purpose and value of feedback in developing communication skills 4. 1 Describe ways of getting feedback on whether communications achieved their purpose There are few ways to get feedback on whether your communication has achieved its purpose of being understandable and appropriate for the audience by asking people you have communicated with recently. Communication Essay Example Communication Essay On the basis of your reading of book â€Å"Media effect† explain and elaborate the theory of agenda setting. Also highlight the agenda setting role of media with examples from Pakistani setting. Introduction: This theory puts forth the ability of the media to influence the significance of events in the publics mind. The media set the agenda for the audiences discussion and mentally order and organize their world. The theory is consistent with a use and gratification approach. McCombs and Shaw  assert that the agenda-setting function of the media causes the correlation between the media and public ordering of priorities. The people most affected by the media agenda are those who have a high need for orientation. Agenda Setting Theory: The  agenda-setting theory  is the theory that the  news media  have a large influence on audiences by their choice of what stories to consider  newsworthy  and how much  prominence and space to give them. Agenda-setting theory’s main postulate is  salience  transfer. Salience  transfer is the ability of the  news media  to transfer issues of importance from their  news media  agendas  to public  agendas. Through their day-by-day selection and display of the news, editors and news directors focus our attention and influence our perceptions of what are the most important issues of the day. This ability to influence the  salience  of topics on the public  agenda  has come to be called the  agenda  setting role of the  news media. Foundation The  media  agenda  is the set of issues addressed by  media  sources and the public  agenda  which are issues the public consider important. We will write a custom essay sample on Communication specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Communication specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Communication specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Agenda-setting theory was introduced in 1972 by  Maxwell McCombs  and  Donald Shaw  in their ground breaking study of the role of the  media  in 1968 presidential campaign in  Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The theory explains the  correlation  between the rate at which  media  cover a story and the extent that people think that this story is important. This correlation has been shown to occur repeatedly. In the dissatisfaction of the  magic bullet theory,  McCombs  and  Shaw  introduced agenda setting theory in the  Public Opinion Quarterly. The theory was derived from their study that took place in Chapel Hill, NC, where the researchers surveyed 100 undecided voters during the 1968 presidential campaign on what they thought were key issues and measured that against the actual  media  content. The ranking of issues was almost identical with a correlation of . 97, and the conclusions matched their hypothesis that the  mass media  positioned the  agenda  for public opinion by emphasizing specific topics. Subsequent research on  agenda-setting theory provided evidence for the  cause-and-effect chain of influence  being debated by critics in the field. One particular study made leaps to prove the cause-effect relationship. The study was conducted by Yale researchers,  Shanto Iyengar, Mark Peters, and  Donald Kinder. The researchers had three groups of subjects fill out questionnaires about their own concerns and then each group watched different evening news programs, each of which emphasized a different issue. After watching the news for four days, the subjects again filled out questionnaires and the issues that they rated as most important matched the issues they viewed on the evening news. The study demonstrated a cause-and-effect relationship between  media  agenda  and public  agenda. As of 2004, there were over 400 empirical studies examining the effects of  Agenda  Setting. The theory has evolved beyond the  medias  influence on the publics perceptions of issue  salience  to political candidates and corporate reputation. Functions The  agenda-setting function has multiple components: ? Media  agenda  are issues discussed in the media, such as newspapers, television, and radio. ? Public  agenda  are issues discussed among members of the public. Policy  agenda  are issues that policy makers consider important, such as legislators. ? Corporate  agenda  are issues that big corporations consider important. These four  agendas  are interrelated. The two basic assumptions that underlie most research on  agenda-setting are that the press and the  media  do not reflect reality, they filter and shape it, and the media concentra tion on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues. Levels of  agenda  setting ? The first-level  agenda  setting is most traditionally studied by researchers. Simply put, the focus is/was on major issues/objects and the transfer of the salience of those objects/issues. From these broad issues,  agenda  setting evolved to look not only at the major issues/objects, but to attributes of those issues. ? In second-level  agenda  setting, the  news media  focuses on the  characteristics  of the objects or issues. This transfer of attribute  salience  is considered second-level effects or attribute agenda-setting. The second dimension refers to the transmission of attribute  salience  to the minds of the public. More specifically, each object has numerous attributes, or characteristics and properties that fill out the picture of that particular object. As certain perspectives and frames are employed in news coverage, they can draw public attention to certain attributes and away from others. In this level the media suggest how the people should think about the issue. There are two types of attributes:  cognitive  (sustentative, or topics) and  affective  (evaluative, or positive, negative, neutral). Additionally, there are several theoretical concepts that fall under the umbrella of attribute  agenda  setting. Some of these include:   priming, gate keeping (which happens in both level) of primary importance, the concept of framing. 1. Priming: There are perspectives as to what  priming  actually is, but the primary concept is such: According to the  priming  theory,  news media  exposure presumably causes the activation of related knowledge, which is more likely to be retrieved and used in later judgments because it is more accessible in memory and comes to mind spontaneously and effortlessly. Iyengar and Kinder,  define  priming  as â€Å"changes in standards that people use to make political evaluations. 2. Gate-keeping: The concept of  gate-keeping  attempts to answer the question of who sets the  news media  agenda? Mccombs,  states that we need to look at three key elements: major sources who provide information for news stories, other news organizations, and journalisms norms and traditions. Mccombs  notes that journalists validate their sense of ne ws by observing and the work of their colleagues. Local newspapers and televisions stations note the news  agenda  offered each day by their direct competitors for local attention. Finding stories that are  newsworthy  can be difficult, but most journalists look for these characteristics throughout the information they collect. These generally are:  impact,  proximity,timeliness,  prominence,  importance,  conflict,  contradiction,  contrast,  novelty, and  human interest. 3. Framing: Although many scholars have differing opinions of what exactly  framing  is, Mccombs  defines it as, the selection of and emphasis upon particular attributes for the news media  agenda  when talking about an object (the fact of cutting and trimming news stories in order to filter it and shape it as the sender wish) . In other words, it is not just is said in news reports, but how they are characterized and presented. It is through this unique characterization/portrayal of issues/objects that communicates certain meanings to audiences apart from just stating facts and figures Usage: The theory is used in political advertising, political campaigns and debates, business news and corporate reputation,  business influence on federal policy, legal systems, trials, role of groups, audience control, public opinion, and  public relations. Strengths and weaknesses of theory It has an explanatory power because it explains why most people prioritize the same issues as important. It also has predictive power because it predicts that if people are exposed to the same  media, they will feel the same issues are important. Its meta-theoretical assumptions are balanced on the scientific side and it lays groundwork for further research. There are also limitations, such as  news media  users may not be as ideal as the theory assumes. People may not be well-informed, deeply engaged in public affairs, thoughtful and skeptical. Instead, they may pay only casual and intermittent attention to public affairs and remain ignorant of the details. For people who have made up their minds, the effect is weakened. Another limitation is that there is limited research in the realm of non-traditional forms of  news media  (i. e. Social Media, Blogs, etc ) and it’s  Agenda  Setting Role. Q-2Describe in detail the major features and concepts of the Cultivation effects hypothesis? Compare research of this tradition with traditional television effects research. Cultivation theory: Cultivation theory in its most basic form, then, suggests that exposure to television, over time, subtly cultivates viewers perceptions of reality. This cultivation can have an impact even on light viewers of TV, because the impact on heavy viewers has an impact on our entire culture. Gerbner and Gross (1976) say television is a medium of the socialization of most people into standardized roles and behaviors. Cultivation Effects Hypothesis: Stated most simply, the central hypothesis explored in cultivation research is that those who spend more time watching television are more likely to perceive the real world in ways that reflect the most common and recurrent messages of the television world, compared with people who watch less television, but are otherwise comparable in terms of important demographic characteristics (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, Signorielli, Shanahan, 2002). Gerbner  et al. 1986) go on to argue the impact of television on its viewers is not unidirectional, that the use of the term cultivation for televisions contribution to conception of social reality (Does not) necessarily imply a one-way, monolithic process. The effects of a pervasive medium upon the composition and structure of the symbolic environment is subtle, complex, and intermingled with other influences. This perspective, therefore, assumes an interaction between the medium and its publics. Cultivation Theory ( George Gerbner, 1960’s) is a top down, linear, closed communication model. It regards audiences as passive, presenting ideas to society as a mass with meaning open to little or no interpretation. The ideas presented to a passive audience are often accepted, therefore influencing large groups into conforming behind ideas, meaning that the media exerts a significant influence over audiences. This audience is seen as very vulnerable and easily manipulated. Cultivation Theory looks at media as having a long term passive effect on audiences, which starts off small at first but has a compound effect, an example of this is body image and the bombardment of images. An advantage of this theory is that it is easy to apply to a wide range of texts and to a wide range of audience members, a disadvantage however is that it doesn’t look at the background, ethnicity, gender etc. of audiences. In 1968 Gerbner conducted a survey to demonstrate this theory. From his results he placed television viewers into three categories; †¢ Light viewers (less than 2 hours a day) †¢ Medium viewers (2–4 hours a day) †¢ Heavy viewers (more than 4 hours a day) He found that heavy viewers held beliefs and opinions similar to those portrayed on television rather than the real world which demonstrates the compound effect of media influence. An advantage to this study is that surveys are able to ask specific detailed questions and can be applied over different demographic groups. Disadvantages to this study is that survey questions can be interpreted incorrectly resulting in inaccurate answers and that participants of the survey may or may not be doing the survey voluntarily which could influence how they respond to the survey and the type of people being surveyed. Gerbner created the cultivation theory as one part of a three part research strategy, called Cultural Indicators. The concept of a cultural indicator was developed by Gerbner in order to be a more common idea of a social indicator. The first part of this strategy is known as the institutional process analysis. This investigates how the flow of media messages is produced and managed, how decisions are made, and how media organizations function. The second part of this strategy is known as message system analysis, which has been used since 1967 to track the most stable and recurrent images in media content. This is in terms of violence, race ethnicity, gender, and occupation. The final part of the research study is the cultivation analysis. METHODOLOGY The first stage in cultivation analysis is a careful study of TV content in order to identify predominant themes and messages. Since 1967, Gerbner and his colleagues have been meticulously analyzing sample weeks of prime time and day time TV programming. Television’s world is populated by a preponderance of males. Moreover, in portraying occupations TV over emphasizes the professions and over represents the proportion of workers engaged in law enforcement and the detection of crime. Lastly the TV world is a violent one. Step two examines what viewers absorb from heavy exposure to the world of TV. Respondents are presented with questions concerning social reality and are asked to check one of two possible answers. One of these answers (the TV answers) is more inline with the way things are portrayed on TV; the other (the real world answer) more closely resembles situations in actual life. RESEARCH FINDINGS Most findings suggest that among some people TV is cultivating distorted perceptions of the real world. Results from a national survey of adult viewers indicate that cultivation is not limited to children. In this survey heavy TV viewers evidently felt that TV violence and crime presented an accurate depiction of reality, since they also were more fearful of walking alone at night and were more likely to have bought a dog or to have put locks on windows and doors than were light TV viewers. Research has shown that content other than crime and violence might also demonstrate a cultivate effect. One study (1981) found that heavy soap opera viewers were more likely than light viewers to over estimate the number of real life married people who had affairs or who had been divorced and the number of women who had abortions. Not all researchers have accepted the cultivation hypothesis. In particular, Hughes (1980) and Hirsch (1980) reanalyzed the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) data using simultaneous rather than individual controls for demographic variables, and they were unable to replicate Gerbner’s findings. Gerbner responded by introducing resonance and mainstreaming, two new concepts to help explain inconsistencies in the results (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, Signorielli, 1986). These concepts take account of the fact that heavy TV viewing has different outcomes for different social groups. Resonance: When the media reinforce what is seen in real life, thus giving an audience member a â€Å"double dose,† the resulting increase in the cultivation effect is attributed to resonance. Mainstreaming is a leveling effect. Gerbner says mainstreaming occurs when heavy viewing leads to a convergence of outlooks across groups. The addition of mainstreaming and resonance to cultivation theory is a substantial modification of the theory. The theory no longer claims uniform, across the board effects of Television on all heavy viewers. It now claims that TV interacts with other variables in ways such that television viewing will have strong effects on some subgroups of persons and not on others. COMPARISON OF CULTIVATION EFFECTS HYPOTHESIS WITH TRADITIONAL T. V EFFECTS RESEARCH Traditional effects research is based on evaluating specific informational, educational, political, or marketing efforts in terms selective exposure and measurable differences between those exposed and others. Scholars steeped in those traditions find it difficult to accept the emphasis of cultivation analysis on total immersion rather than selective viewing and on the spread of stable similarities of outlook rather than on the remaining sources of cultural differentiation and change. Cultivation theory is based on the results of research findings a persistent and persuasive pull of the television. Mainstream on a great variety of conceptual currents and counter currents. The focus on broad communalities of perspectives among heavy viewers of otherwise varied backgrounds requires a theoretical and methodological approach different from traditional media effects research and appropriate to the distinct dynamics of TV. Cultivation analysis is not a substitute for but a complement to traditional approaches to media effects. Traditional research is concerned with change rather than stability and with processes more applicable to media that inter a person’s life at latter stages (with mobility, literacy, etc. ) and more selectively. Neither the â€Å"before and after exposure† model, nor the notion of â€Å"predispositions† as intervening variables. So important and traditional effects studies, apply in the context of cultivation analysis. TV enters life in infancy; there is no â€Å"before exposure† condition. TV plays a role in the formation of those very â€Å"predispositions† that later intervene (and often resist) other influences and attempts at persuasion. Cultivation analysis concentrates on the enduring and common consequences of growing up and living with TV. Those are the stable, resistant, and widely shared assumptions, images, and conceptions expressing the institutional haracteristics and interests of the medium itself. Q-3Explain the concepts of Framing and Priming with examples? Also briefly describe Mainstreaming effects. Priming and Framing: Priming (mass media research), often cited next to Framing and  Agenda-setting theory, is a cognitive process, in which media information (Primes) increases temporarily the accessibility of knowledge units in the memory of an individual, which makes it more likely that these knowledge units are used in the reception, interpretation and judgment for the following external information. Framing Although many scholars have differing opinions of what exactly  framing  is, Mccombs  defines it as, the selection of and emphasis upon particular attributes for the news media  agenda  when talking about an object (the fact of cutting and trimming news stories in order to filter it and shape it as the sender wish) . In turn, as we know from attribute  agenda  setting, people who frame objects, placing various degrees of emphasis on the attributes of persons, public issues or other objects when they think or talk about them. In other words, it is not just is said in news reports, but how they are characterized and presented. It is through this unique characterization/portrayal of issues/objects that communicates certain meanings to audiences apart from just stating facts and figures; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Entman, 1993 not only defines  frames  as â€Å"involving selection and salience. To  frame  is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more  salient  in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described.    But also goes on to describe these four functions: 1) Defining problems-determining what a causal agent is doing with what costs and benefits, usually measured in terms of common cultural values; 2) Diagnosing causes-identifying the forces creating the problem; 3) Making moral judgments-evaluate causal  agents  and their effects; and 4) Suggesting remedies-offering and justifying treatments for the problems a nd predict their likely effects. It is through these four functions that the  news media  can highlight/characterize certain issues/candidates/problems/attributes and/or choose to ignore others. Furthermore, many other defined  news media  framing as the central organizing idea for news content that supplies a context and suggests what the issue is through the use of selection, emphasis, exclusion and elaboration.   When the news media  supply the context, select what to emphasize or exclude information, they show us how to think about an object/issue/candidate. In order for this to be effective the audience must be able to internalize the information and â€Å"individual’s therefore apply interpretive schemas or â€Å"primary frameworks† Priming: There are perspectives as to what  priming  actually is, but the primary concept is such: According to the  priming  theory,  news media  exposure presumably causes the activation of related knowledge, which is more likely to be retrieved and used in later judgments because it is more accessible in memory and comes to mind spontaneously and effortlessly. , its the actual act of link two different elements in order to generate a general known idea. The concept of  priming  is supported by the  accessibility bias argument  as well as the principle of resonance as some attributes may resonate longer with individuals than others. Iyengar and Kinder,  define  priming  as â€Å"changes in standards that people use to make political evaluations. † The premis e of political priming is that public evaluations of political leaders are made on the basis of issues that are on the top of citizens’ mind. This study investigated the impact of a national referendum campaign about a European integration issue on the evaluation of the incumbent government, the Prime Minister as well opposition leaders. Drawing on a content analysis of news media and a two-wave panel survey, the results showed that as the topic of the referendum (the introduction of the euro) became more visible in the media during the campaign, the importance of the euro issue for formulating general evaluations of political leaders increased. The incumbent government that was seen to handle the referendum poorly was penalized by the referendum. Exposure to news media outlets that covered the referendum extensively and offered negative evaluations of political leaders boosted the decline in overall performance rating of political leaders for politically less involved respondents. These results stress the necessity of considering the campaign and the specific content of the media to understand fluctuations in public opinion during a referendum campaign. MAINSTREAMING EFFECTS: Gerbner and his colleagues define mainstreaming as the sharing of that commonality among heavy viewers in those demographic groups whose light viewers hold divergent views (Gerbner et al. , 1980, p. 15). Gerbner and his associates look for mainstreaming effects by selecting groups of light viewers that differ strongly in their answers to a particular question (such as the estimate of the proportion of law enforcement officers in the total workforce). They then look at the heavy viewers in those same groups. If the variation in the answers of the heavy viewers is significantly smaller than the variation in the answers of the light viewers, the researchers speak of a mainstreaming effect of television, or a relative homogenization, an absorption of divergent views, and a convergence of disparate viewers (Morgan Signorielli, 1990, p. 3). Related to acts of violence depicted in programming, viewers are de-sensitized to the violence and become less empathetic to the suffering of others. Likewise studies of other social issues indicate that television cultivates assumptions we label stereotypes. Thus notions of gender roles are reinforced by television content when viewers see women in th e kitchen and men in the workplace. An interesting result of mainstreaming is that heavy viewers tend to label themselves as â€Å"moderate† instead of â€Å"liberal† or â€Å"conservative,† despite the actual positions they take on a number of political issues. Mainstream does not mean ‘middle of the road’† (Gerbner et al. , 2002, p. 57). Mainstreaming has influenced the heavy viewer to consider himself as conforming to the dominant viewpoint rather than be counted among those who are outside of the norm. Q-4: What do you understand by social Cognitive theory of mass communication? Give examples from your own society. Mass communication is something were all affected by in one way, or another. Directly, or indirectly, information transmitted by todays communication mediums shape and directs a societys expectations and behaviors. The impacts of mass communication exert a cognitive effect on us as individuals, and as a social group. The cognitive theory examines how repeated exposure to the media changes human behavior. Values: †¢ Valuesboth personal and societalare the focus within the cognitive theory of mass communication. The methods used to relay information are based on how values are formed, structured and directed within our minds. Research within psychology, marketing and communications all combine to give us an understanding of how media interacts with a societys value system. Based on structured methods that work on values, attitudes, emotions and behavior, the effects of mass communication can be pre-determined, and put to use. Features: †¢ A persons value system is built on pre-learned patterns of how to identify people and things in her environment, and how to interact with them. Patterns that carry an emotional overtone have the most impact on a persons value system. Cognitive theory refers to these patterns as Exemplars. These are the building blocks that make up a value system. Exemplars represent accumulated information blocks within a persons psychological make-up. Mass communication mediums like television and newspapers affect us on a daily basis. Cognitive theory views the information passed along through these sources as seeded with exemplars. Over a period of years, or decades, the medias portrayal of exemplars becomes a means by which value systems can be changed. Function: †¢   Media advertisers make use of exemplars within their advertising campaigns. Cognitive theory calls this the Priming method. Based on whats called a Landscape Model, advertisers can determine where best to promote a product within a television show, a newspaper, or a movie. Product placement within the framework of a story is based on where the product will most impact the viewers. Social cognitive theory is a subcategory of  cognitive theory  that focuses on the effects that others have on our behavior. It is a form of  learning theory, but differs from other learning theories such as  behaviorism  in several important ways. Tenets of Social Cognitive Theory: Expert opinions differ on exactly what separates social cognitive theory from the more general social learning theory. In general, however, these principles can be used to define social cognitive theory. . People learn by observing others, a process known as vicarious learning, not only through their own direct experiences. 2. Although learning can modify behavior, people do not always apply what they have learned. Individual choice is based on perceived or actual consequences of behavior. 3. People are more likely to follow the behaviors modeled by someone with whom they can identify. T he more perceived commonalities and/or emotional attachments between the observer and the model, the more likely the observer will learn from the model. 4. The degree of self-efficacy that a learner possesses directly affects his or her ability to learn. Self-efficacy is a fundamental belief in one’s ability to achieve a goal. If you believe that you can learn new behaviors, you will be much more successful in doing so. Social Cognitive Theory in Daily Life: Social cognitive theory is frequently used in  advertising. Commercials are carefully targeted toward particular demographic groups. Each element of the commercial, from the actors to the background music, is chosen to help that demographic identify with the product. Notice how different the commercials shown during Saturday morning cartoons are from those shown during the evening news or a late-night movie. And who hasnt at one time or another realized the power of  peer pressure? We all want to belong, and so we tend to change our behaviors to fit in with whatever group we most strongly identify with. Although we often think of peer pressure as solely a teen phenomenon, how many of us drive a particular car, live in a specific neighborhood, or have our hair done at a certain salon simply because it is expected of someone in our social class or peer group? Social cognitive theory  is a  learning theory  based on the ideas that people learn by watching what others do and that human thought processes are central to understanding personality. While social cognitists agree that there is a fair amount of influence on development generated by learned behavior displayed in the environment in which one grows up, they believe that the individual person (and therefore cognition) is just as important in determining moral development. People learn by observing others, with the environment, behavior, and cognition all as the chief factors in influencing development. These three factors are not static or independent; rather, they are all reciprocal. For example, each behavior witnessed can change a persons way of thinking (cognition). Similarly, the environment one is raised in may influence later behaviors, just as a fathers mindset (also cognition) will determine the environment in which his children are raised.

cemistry essays

cemistry essays ung Pioneers and the China-Russia Friendship were set up all over China. Because the Communist Party ran these groups, it was easy for them to use the people for its own purposes such as mass rallies. An incredible example of this was when every Chinese citizen was asked to kill 10 flies a day throughout the 1960's. With a population of 600 million, flies became virtually extinct. In some areas. Another example of this was when cities were being cleaned up. In Shanghai, there was a campaign against rats and each week, every family had to produce one rat's tail. Another change that affected the Chinese people was the introduction of communes. This reorganised their lives. Families were split up into work teams where they shared everything. Children were sent to schools and nurseries, old people and the infirm were moved into 'houses of happiness' so that their families did not have to look after them and could work. Communal eating halls were also set up so that people did not waste time cooking. Communes were units of local government, with a committee made up of peasants. Party members and soldiers ran schools, clinics, nurseries, eating halls, entertainment and other public services. These changes meant that the Party controlled people's lives and they spent less time with their families and more time working, resulting in exhaustion and illness. From 1962 to 1966, the Communist Party argued as to which road to take. The moderates wanted peasants working harder, to have bigger plots of land and to get paid according to how much work they did. Mao Zedong was opposed to these policies. He thought that they were too 'capitalist'. In 1962, the Socialist Education Movement was launched, aiming to get people back into Communism. The 'four clean-ups campaign' to get rid of corruption and bad Party leadership was also introduced, to discourage people who showed signs of 'capitalist' behaviour. These were also important political cha...

International Trade Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International Trade Project - Essay Example In this the world price is $1 which is way below the domestic price of $3. Hence, at $1 domestic supply falls to 1, however quantity demanded in the domestic market rises to 16. This takes place primarily because of the inverse relation of quantity demanded and the direct correlation of quantity supplied with price. Assuming that there are no transport and other costs, domestic supply and demand takes place according to the world price. Since world production is infinite, at $1 the quantity sold will be 16. c. Assuming that free trade takes place i.e. there is no tariff laid on the goods imported from outside the domestic country; the equilibrium price stays at $1. Quantity supplied domestically is 1 however quantity demanded domestically is 16, which means there is a gap of 15 units of production. This gap is bridged by importing 15 units of the product from the world market. Hence, the output produced by domestic producers is 1 and that by the foreign producers is 15. Since the domestic price is higher than the world price and the country is an importer of the good, this implies that the rest of the world has a comparative advantage in the production of the good. The country is thus a net importer of the good and thus domestic consumers of the good are better off since they have to pay a lower price. d. Despite all the benefits of free trade, barriers to free trade do exist. Tariffs are excise taxes imposed on imported goods. As a tariff of $1 per unit is imposed, on one hand it raises the world price to $2 and hence the quantity demanded falls to 11 from 16 and on the other hand, the quantity supplied rises from 1 to 4. The gap between domestic supply and demand falls from 15 to 7. Hence, under $1 tariff situation, a total of 11 units are sold at $2. Tariffs are imposed primarily for protecting the domestic market. As already seen, the major and immediate impact of tariff is the rise in the price level. Since price is inversely

History of Western Civilization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

History of Western Civilization - Essay Example The description of the building of Nazi power is one of the main contributions of the book, specifically by showing how the Germans were interested in the desire for change. This began specifically with the post World War I mentality, specifically which came from the Versailles Treaty. From this treaty, most in Germany believed that they were losing a sense of Germany and the political rights that were needed for the country. Being able to regain the ruins of World War I and the battles that were still occurring from the treaty that was not desired was the main political justification that was noted. When the Nazi Regime began to establish, it was justified as a way to keep the patriotism of the country alive and to create a better initiative to rebuild the country in a way that would benefit all that were in Germany at the time. When the political regime began to take over, the attacks were on the movement against the Communist regime. This ideal was one in which most Germans didnâ €™t believe in and which found to be a way to lose freedom and rights. The attacks made politically were ones which initially most Germans opposed, which allowed them to gain an understanding and insight into the politics, while giving support to the Nazi power. After the political regime continued to grow, those that were involved with the movement recognized that there were also attacks on socialism; however, like the Communist approach, most didn’t oppose these beliefs. When the Nazi party came into full effect, the Nazis that supported the opposition to the other political regimes were in a position where they had to politically support the dictatorship which had arisen. â€Å"When the Nazis attacked the Communists, he was a little uneasy, but, after all, he was not a Communist, and so he did nothing; and then they attacked the socialists, and he was a little uneasier, but still, he was not a socialist, and he did nothing; and then the schools, the press, the Jews, a nd so on, and he was always uneasier, but still he did nothing† (Mayer, pg. 169). These quotes show how the Nazi regime initially didn’t have the connection in beliefs, making those involved in politics to continue to support what was occurring as a better alternative. By the time the attacks moved into the war, it was too late for the Nazis to go against the political power. If this was done, then the movement against the patriotic movement would have led to the individual being attacked or dead. The establishment of the Nazi power not only had the agenda of building the political system. There were also promises and beliefs that were based on rebuilding the cultural and economic status of the country. The treaty and the loss of World War I had led to downfalls within the country as well as with global relations. The suffering that Germany was going through led them to believe that grabbing onto a new order and way of working within politics would lead Germany back to a better system. The economic status, through this new order, could help to strengthen Germany. More important, the order worked culturally, specifically because it built national pride and the ability to be a part of Germany. The cultural and economic affiliations combined to create a rebuilding of Germany and to ensure that there was a different way in which Germany could begin to recount for the current losses. As the regime began to grow, Nazis began to

The effect of dividends on stock price Coursework

The effect of dividends on stock price - Coursework Example You must also have -a run of consistent good luck. Sudden wealth and big windfall gains depend more on luck, less on skill and knowledge. J. Paul Getty1 was -one such outstanding example. He became the world's richest man and accumulated a vast fortune of over U.S. $ 2 billion but it took him over fifty years of consistent and steady investing to do so. It would be useful for you to ponder over what he says: "Get-rich-quick schemes just don't work. If they did, then everyone on the face of the Earth would be a millionaire. This holds true for stock market dealings as it does for any other form of business activity. Don't misunderstand me. It is possible to make money and a great deal of money-in. the stock market. But it can't be done overnight or by haphazard buying and selling. The big profits go to the intelligent, careful and patient investor, not to the reckless and overeager speculator." (Navjot 57) In the investment market, the heart of the investment process consists of selection, timing, and price. It is all a question of selecting the right company, buying shares in it at the right time and price, and subsequently selling them at the right time and price. ... That will depend on the following four factors: (i) The amount of money you initially invest; (ii) The period over which the money is invested; (iii) The rate at which the invested capital appreciates in value; and (iv) The income you receive from your invested capital during this period. Therefore, to achieve investment success you should keep these four factors in mind while taking decisions on selection, timing and price. But this is not all. Successful investing goes for beyond selection, timing and price. It involves the setting of personal investment objectives, formulating an investment plan and adopting a suitable investment strategy. The overall objective of every investor is to make money. To go further, it is to make of every investor is to make money. To go further, it is to make money at a rate that beats the rate of inflating. In other words, the board objective of all investment is to increase, or at least preserve, the purchasing power of invested capital. For a successful investor it is necessary to have a well-defined plan, backed by a carefully conceived investment strategy. This will help you to keep your impulses under control and reduce the subjective element in your investment decisions. A good investment plan is by itself not enough to guarantee investment success. Sometimes, even the best investment plans have flaws, and go awry when implemented in practice. But the fact that you have a plan will stack the odds in your favor and give you a fair chance to win. A well-conceived plan will improve your average results and raise your general level of performance. INVESTMENT PRINCIPLES The art of successful investment rests on the foundation of certain basic principles, which generally hold good for all times and places. Moreover, these

The use of operations management techniques

The use of operations management techniques Operations management is concerned with the design, planning, control and improvement of an organisations resources and processes to provide goods or services for customers. Whether it is the provision of airport services, medical services, holiday packages, or the manufacturing of automobiles, consumers electronics and so on; the operations manager would have been involved in the design, creation and delivery of those products and services. (Johnson, R. etal 2003). Operations Managers are found everywhere including banks, supermarkets, construction site, production plant, government offices, and so on. Their role includes designing systems within an organisation, ensuring quality, manufacturing products, and delivery of services. They also deal with clients, suppliers, partners, and latest technology. Operation management is more than just planning and managing processes; it is transformation processes which can also be define as a series of activities along a value chain extending from supplier to customer. TRANSFORMATION PROCESS INPUT: Material, Equipments, Labour, Management, and Capital OUTPUT: Goods Services Feedback Figure 1: Operations as a Transformation Process (adaptation from Russell Taylor, 2005) For instance, in a car manufacturing factory, sheet steel is formed into different shapes, painted and finished, and then assembled with thousands of component parts to produce a working automobile. In a hospital, customers (patients) are helped to become healthier individuals through special care, medication, meals, physiotherapy, and surgical procedures. Core activities in operations management include organizing work, arranging layouts, locating facilities, designing jobs, measuring performance, selecting processes, controlling quality, scheduling work, managing inventory, and planning production. Operations Management Techniques There are several operations management techniques used by companies. These include but not limited to; Lean Production Just-in-Time Benchmarking Material Requirement Planning (MRP) Quality Management Supply Chain Management Inventory Management Linear Programming Waiting Line Analysis Forecasting This report will focus on three of the ten Operations Management techniques listed above. They are Supply Chain Management, Just-in-Time, and Benchmarking. 2.1 Supply Chain Management According to Russell and Taylor (2006), Supply Chain Management can be described as an operations management technique that focuses on integrating an managing the flow of goods and services and information through the supply chain in order to make it responsive to customer needs while lowering total costs. It is also an integrated group of business processes and activities with the same goal of providing customer satisfaction. These processes include the procurement of services, materials, and components from suppliers; production of the products and services; and distribution of the products to the customers. 2.2 Just-in-Time (JIT) This is an operation management philosophy directed at eliminating manufacturing wastes by producing only the right amount and combination of parts at the right place at the right time. Developed by the Japanese during the post World War II era, it is based on the principle of producing only what is needed and nothing more than needed. The Japanese believed that anything produced over the quantity required is waste. Wastes results from any activity that adds cost without adding value to the product, such as transferring of inventories from one place to another or even storing them. (Sirisha, D. 2003). The goal of JIT is to minimize the presence of  non-value-adding operations  and non-moving inventories  in the production line. This will result in shorter throughput times, better on-time delivery performance, higher equipment utilization, lesser space requirement, lower costs, and greater profits.  JIT is most applicable to operations or production flows that do not change, i.e., those that are simply repeated over and over again. An example of this would be an automobile assembly line, wherein every car undergoes the same production process as the one before it. Benchmarking This is one of the operations management technique aimed at improving organisational process by constantly identifying, understanding and adapting successful practices and processes by others and facilitating its incorporation into an organisation. Simply put, benchmarking means comparing ones organization or a part of it with that of the other companies. As further explained by Camp (1995), benchmarking is a continuous activity; key internal processes are adjusted, performance is monitored, new comparisons are made with the current best performers and further changes are explored. When information about these key processes is obtained through a co-operative partnership with specific organisations (rather than third party such as independently-maintained database), there is an expectation of mutual benefit over a period of time. The type of benchmarking that companies can adopt are: Strategic Benchmarking Competitive Benchmarking Process Benchmarking Functional Benchmarking Internal Benchmarking External Benchmarking International Benchmarking Benchmarking exercise is a four-stage process involving; Planning stage involves identifying, establishing and documenting specific study focus areas, key events and definitions. Data collection stage involves accumulating qualitative data and learning from the best practices of different organizations. Data analysis and reporting stage involves critical evaluation of practices followed at high performing organizations, and the identification of practices that help and deter superior performance. Adaptation stage involves developing an initial action plan to adapt and implement the practices followed by these high performance organizations. 3.0 CASE STUDY 1: Dells Supply Chain Management Practices (Consumer Electronics) This case study is based on a different type of supply chain management practices pioneered by Dell Inc, one of the leading PC manufacturers in the world. It is known as the Direct Model, a unique model of selling PCs directly to the consumers, bypassing the resellers. With this model, Dell was able to provide its customers with tailor-made products, built only after procuring the order from them. This case study describes this model in detail and explains how it enabled Dell to manage its supply chain effectively. 3.1 Summary Background Note Dell Inc. (headquartered in Texas, USA) is a global technology corporation that develops, manufactures, sells, and support personal computers and other computer-related products. Founded in 1984 by Michael Dell (Michael), it grew during the 1980s and 1990s to become the largest seller of PCs and servers. Dell became a pioneer in the configure to order approach to manufacturing delivering individual PCs configured to customer specification. In order to minimise delay between purchase and delivery, Dell has a general policy of manufacturing its products close to its customers; which allows for implementing a just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing approach, which minimises inventory costs. 3.2 The Direct Model Dells Direct selling Model traces its origins to Michaels idea of selling computers directly to the consumers eliminating the need for distributors. He believed that by selling system (PCs) directly to the consumers, the company would be able to better understand the needs of its consumers. Each system was assembled according to customers preference. Dell also realised that maintaining a high level of quality was necessary in order to compete with the to PC manufacturers like IBM and Compaq. To achieve this, the company decided to increase their funds in hand by reducing inventory. Dell decided to produce PCs as per orders it received and not to hold excess inventory or finished products. Dell then later decided to replace inventory with information and pass on the information to the suppliers, who were provided access to companys internal data about the demand for specific components. With the reduction in components inventory having a positive effect on each cash flow, the company decided to bring other task related production in line with the reduced inventory. The overall savings Dell derived from managing the inventory encouraged it to try matching supply and demand on monthly, weekly and daily basis. This reduced the variation in supply and demand and gradually it was no longer necessary for Dell to maintain any component i nventory. Dell established its website in 1994, introduced online pricing in 1995, and began online sales in 1996. Within six months Dells revenue on the Internet stood at US $1 million a day. By 1997, sales through the Web were around US $1 billion, and by 1998, Dells sales through the Internet accounted for more than half of its total sales. The internet proved to be a booster for Dells direct model as it was able to facilitate transactions. Reduce costs, and improve relationships with customers. Dells direct model was directly supported by the way the companys activities were organized globally. 3.2.1 The Direct Model Role of Dells Suppliers As bringing components from the suppliers factories to Dell took anything between 7 and 30 days depending on the mode of transportation, Dell required all its suppliers to maintain a warehouse close to its factories. They could either manufacture the product at the warehouse or produce at another place and ship the finished product to the warehouse. The warehouses known as Suppliers Logistics Centres (SLC) were located few miles away from Dells assembly plants. Each SLC could be shared by more than one supplier. Typically, Dell required suppliers to maintain inventory for 8 to 10 days in SLCs. Dell took the inventory from SLCs as required, usually replenishing its stocks every two hours. Most suppliers replenished the stocks at SLCs thrice a week. Dell demanded that its suppliers should be extremely flexible to accommodate short-term demand fluctuations. The suppliers are provided with data on real-time customer demand, and every week, suppliers were given an order commitment from Dell for the following week. The suppliers needed to send their consent to meet the companys demands immediately. 3.2.2 The Direct Model Balancing Demand and Supply Dell maintained a database to track the purchasing patterns of corporate customers and their budget cycles, in order to forecast demand. It also maintained a similar database for individual customers in order to cater for their future requirements. The changing demand patterns were communicated to the major suppliers three times a day. If it was found that the lead time for a product was increasing, the procurement of the product was accelerated or additional suppliers were brought and the customers were encouraged to buy substitute product. If any component was found to be accumulating, customers were provided incentive to buy those products. On the other hand, if demand exceeded supply at any given point in time, Dell had more than one supplier to accelerate supply. If the component was generic, Dell checked with alternative suppliers. Once the supplier options were exhausted, Dell used its marketing team to shift demand. 3.3 Benefits of Direct Model Dell gained tremendous benefit from their Direct Model approach to Supply Chain Management. As Dell did not hold large inventory of finished products, it did not have to sell technologically obsolete products at a discount. Dell was able to bring in new products according to the needs of the customers into the market faster than its competitors. In addition to this, Dell was able to incorporate new technologies quickly into its products and take them to customers almost two months ahead of its competitors. Through the Direct Model, Dells production system functioned on negative working capital as suppliers were paid 36 days after Dell received payments from its customers. This is in contrast with other computer manufacturers who usually paid the suppliers 30 days before the PC was skipped to the market 3.4 What Dell could do to get more positive results In order for Dell to regain its number one position in the PC market, it has to make significant business changes to way its been doing business for two decades. Firstly, Dell could provide a facility where consumers have the opportunity to see the product before buying it. Dell can achieve this by partnering with PC retail stores. This will also help to address some of the customer service issues and improve its support system. Another thing Dell could do is to create products with a longer shelf-life, like digital televisions and printer cartridges, in addition to a few desktops and notebooks and sell them through the Dell retail stores. Finally, Dell could enter the commercial retail segment and compete with likes of HP and Acer, although this is an area in which Dell is not experienced enough. 4.0 CASE STUY 2: Toyotas Just-in-Time Revolution (Automotive) This case study is based on the Just-in-Time manufacturing system pioneered by Toyota. It is one of the most significant production approaches of the post world war II era. The case discusses in detail the concept of Toyotas JIT system and the Kanban concept; which was one of the principles on which Toyotas JIT was based. I will compare the Kanban concept with the western manufacturing philosophy. I will also make objective criticism and suggestion, where appropriate, to show what else Toyota could do to get more positive results. 4.1 Summary Background Note Toyotas history goes back to 1897, when Sakichi Toyoda (Sakichi) diversified into machinery business from his family traditional business of carpentry. He founded Toyoda Automatic Loom Works in 1926 for manufacturing automatic looms. Sakichi established an automobile department within TALW. Toyota Motor Corporation was established in 1937 after Sakichis son Kiichiro Toyoda (Kiichiro) convinced him to enter the automobile business. Kiichiro visited the Ford Motor company in Detroit to study the US automotive industry. He saw that an average US workers production was nine times that of a Japanese worker. He realized that the productivity of the Japanese automobile industry had to be increased if it were to compete globally. Back in Japan, he customized the Ford production system to suit Japanese market. He also devised a system wherein each process in the assembly line of production would produce only the number of parts needed at the next step on the production line, which made logistics management easier as material was procured according to consumption. This system was referred to as Just-in-time (JIT) with the Toyota Group. 4.2 Just-in-Time Production System in Toyota Taiichi Ohno (Ohno), who is now referred to as the father of JIT implemented JIT in Toyotas manufacturing plants in the early 1970s. The system was aimed at avoiding waste, reducing inventories and increasing production efficiency in order to maintain Toyotas competitive edge. Initially, it was used as a method for reducing inventories in Toyotas shipyards, but later it evolved into a management philosophy including a set of techniques. Kanban was an important component of Toyotas JIT concept. It is a simple parts-movement system that depended on cards and containers to take parts from one workstation to another on production line. Ohno developed the in 1956 from the supermarkets in the US, which had devised an effective system for replenishment of store shelves based on the quantities picked by customers. The essence of the Kanban concept was that a supplier delivered components to the production line only when required, thus eliminating storage in the production area. Supplier delivered desired components when they received a card and an empty container, indicating that more parts were needed for the production. In case of line interruption, each supplier produced only enough components to fill the container and then stopped. At Toyota, two types of Kanban cards were used. To move parts from one place to another, known as the Conveyance Kanban card and to authorize the production of parts, known as the Production Kanban card. Three types of information were exchanged using Kanban; Pick up information guided the earlier stages regarding parts to be produced for the succeeding stages. Transfer information indicated when the parts had to be produced for the succeeding stages. Production information was transmitted from the earlier stages to the later stages to inform the workers about the product mix and other operational matters. To make the Kanban system effective and reap maximum benefits from it, Ohno framed six rules: Do not dens defective products to the subsequent process The subsequent process comes to withdraw only what is needed Produce only the exact quantity withdrawn by the subsequent process Level the production Kanban is a means to fine tuning Stabilize and rationalize the process Another important component of JIT was called Heijunka (production smoothing). JITs principle of building only the required number of items helped keep the production costs low. Heijunka helped in the accomplishment of this principle by creating a consistent production volume. Heijunka averaged highest and lowest variations of the orders. The variations were then removed from the production schedule. This ensured that the right quantity of parts was produced with minimum workforce. Heijunka took care not only of the total volume of items but also the type of items produced and the other options. Benefits to Toyota The JIT system implemented by Toyota offered several advantages over other manufacturing processes. Because of the early adoption of JIT, Toyota benefited more from the system than other automobile companies. The main benefit of the JIT system to Toyota is its ability to help drive down costs and waste by improving the flow of production. Another big advantage of JIT system to Toyota is that it improves the responsiveness to changes in demand. The Kanban concept implemented is like a smart traffic light with ability to sense when the traffic, or in this case the demand, is building up. In addition to these, Toyota was able to: Reduce stock holdings by reduction in storage space which saves storage and insurance costs. Have less working capital tied up in stock as stock is only obtained when it is needed. Reduce time spent on checking and re-working the product of others as the emphasis is on getting the work right first time 4.4 What Toyota could do to get more positive results Toyota has not been able to replicate the JIT production system in an efficient way in any of its operations outside Japan. Toyota should try to imbibe the Japanese culture (which is a main driving force of their JIT) in their other operations outside Japan inorder to get more result. Also, Toyota should use more than two suppliers for most parts as having less than two suppliers makes Toyota susceptible to flow interruption. 5.0 CASE STUY 3: Xerox The Benchmarking Story (Consumer Electronics) This case study is based on the benchmarking initiatives taken by Xerox, one of the worlds leading copier companies. This is a part of their Leadership through Quality program implemented by the company during the early 1980s. I will discuss in detail the benchmarking concept and its implementation in various processes at Xerox. I will explore the positive impact of benchmarking practices on Xerox also make objective criticism and suggestion, where appropriate, to show what else Xerox could do to get more positive results 5.1 Summary Background Note The history of Xerox dated back to 1938, when Chester Carlson, a patent attorney and part-time inventor, made the first xerographic image in the US. He struggled for over five years to sell the invention, until 1944 when Battelle Memorial Instutite approached him to refine his new process. Xerox was registered as a trademark in 1948 when The Haliod Company obtained all rights to Carlsons invention from Battelle. Xerox Corporation was formed and listed on the New York stock Exchange in 1961. The company grew throughout the 1960s by acquiring many companies, and later diversified into the information technology business through to the early 1970s. in the 1970s, Xerox focused on introducing new and more efficient models to retain its share of the reprographic market and cope with competition from the US and Japanese companies. The companys revenue increased from $698 million in 1966 to $4.4 million in 1976, and profits also increased five-fold from $83 million in 1966 to $407 million in 1977. The rapid growth at Xerox led to the introduction of a variety of controls and procedures and the number of management layers was increased during the 1970s. This, however, slowed down decision-making and resulted in major delays in product development. By early 1980s, has found itself increasingly vulnerable to intense competition from both the US and Japanese competitors. According to analysts, Xerox ignored new entrants who were consolidating their positions in the lower-end market and in niche segments. The management also failed to give the company strategic direction. The companys operating cost was high and its products were of inferior quality in comparison to its competitors. Xerox also suffered from its highly centralized decision-making processes. As a result of this, return on assets fell to less than 8% and market share in copiers came down sharply from 86% in 1974 to just 17% in 1984.xeroxs profits decreased from $1.15billion in 1980 to $290 million in 1984. When David T. Kearns (Kearns) took over in 1982, he discovered that Japanese companies were able to undercut Xeroxs prices effortlessly because their average costs of copiers was 50-60% cheaper than that of Xerox. Kearns quickly began emphasizing reduction of manufacturing costs and gave new thrust to quality control by launching a program that was popularly referred to as Leadership through Quality. As part of this quality program (to find ways to reduce their manufacturing costs), Xerox implemented the benchmarking program. These initiatives played a major role in pulling Xerox out of trouble in the years to come. The company even went on to become one of the best examples of the successful implementation of benchmarking. 5.2 Benchmarking against Japanese Competitors Xerox discovered that it took twice as long as its Japanese competitors to bring a product to market, five times the number of engineers, four times the number of design changes, and three times the design costs. The company also found that the Japanese could produce, ship, and sell units for about the same amount that it cost Xerox just to manufacture them. In addition, Xeroxs products had over 30,000 defective parts per million about 30 times more than its competitors. Benchmarking also revealed that Xerox would need an 18% annual productivity growth rate for five consecutive years to catch up with the Japanese. After an initial period of denial, Xerox managers accepted the reality. Following this, Xerox defined benchmarking as the process of measuring its products, services, and practices against its toughest competitors, identifying the gaps and establishing goals. Goal is always to achieve superiority in quality, product reliability and cost. Gradually, Xerox developed its own benchmarking model. This model involved tens steps categorized under five stages planning, analysis, integration, action and maturity. Figure 2: Xerox Benchmarking Model (according to Karsnia 1991, Camp 1989) Xerox collected data on key processes of best practice companies. These critical processes were then analyzed to identify and define improvement opportunities. For the purpose of acquiring data from the related benchmarking companies, Xerox subscribed to the management and technical databases, referred to magazines and trade journals, and also consulted professional associations and consulting firms. Having worked out the model it wanted to use, Xerox began by implementing competitive benchmarking. However, the company found this type of benchmarking to be inadequate as the very best practices, in some processes or operations were not being practiced by copier companies. The company then adopted functional benchmarking, which involved a study of the best practices followed by a variety of companies regardless of the industry they belonged to. Xerox initiated functional benchmarking with the study of the warehousing and inventory management system of L.L. Bean (Bean), a mail-order sup plier of sporting goods and outdoor clothing.   Similarly, Xerox zeroed in on various other best practice companies to benchmark its other processes. These included American Express (for billing and collection), Cummins Engines and Ford (for factory floor layout), Florida Power and Light (for quality improvement), Honda (for supplier development), Toyota (for quality management), Hewlett-Packard (for research and product development), Saturn (a division of General Motors) and Fuji Xerox (for manufacturing operations) and DuPont (for manufacturing safety). Results of Benchmarking Some of the benefits Xerox derived as a result of their benchmarking are; Customer satisfaction for its copier/duplicator and printing systems increased by 38% and 39% respectively. Customer satisfaction with its sales processes improved by 40%, service processes by 18% and administrative processes by 21%. Customer complaints reduced by more than 60%. Financial performance of the company also improved considerably through the mid and late 1980s. Some of the other benefits Xerox derived were: Number of effects reduced by 78 per 100 machines. Inspection of incoming components reduced to below 5%. Inventory costs reduced by two-thirds. Notable decrease in labour costs. Became the leader in the high-volume copier-duplicator market segment Country units improved from 152% to 328%. 5.4 What Xerox could do to get more positive results Xerox could get more positive results by continuously benchmarking against other companies outside the United States, especially in India and China. As we are in a more competitive business environment where customers preference are changing and they want more value for their money, Xerox should try to diversify more into the technology market in order to retain its competitiveness in the market. 6.0 Conclusion Hence we can see that operations management is an important aspect of any business organisation. It is very important as it is concerned with creating products and services; the core of an organizations existence. It is also challenging because the techniques implemented by organizations need to work globally and responsibly within the society and the environment; as we can see in all the three case studies used in this report.

A Brain Drain Essay examples -- Biology Essays Research Papers

A Brain Drain Anthrax, arteriovenous malformation (cerebral), chronic inflammatory, polyneuropathy, dementia due to metabolic causes, encephalitis, epilepsy, febrile seizure (children), generalized tonic-clonic seizure, Guillain-Barre syndrome, hydrocephalus, inhalation anthrax, treatments involving leukemia and neuroblastoma, malignant diseases involving the brain or spinal cord, meningitis, multiple sclerosis, normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), pituitary tumor, polio, Reye's syndrome, subarachnoid brain hemorrhage, syphilis, tertiary, etc. Seems like quite an extensive list, and yet the list goes on to include hundreds of dehabilitating diseases which can affect the central nervous system. One thing that all of these conditions have in common is the potential to be discovered with the evidence from a procedure know as the lumbar puncture (spinal tap or cisternal puncture). Over spring break, I had the wonderful opportunity to intern with a neurologist. During this time, I viewed the lumbar puncture. As painful and invasive as I had imagined it, it was not. I learned that the lumbar puncture is actually a quite simple and absolutely amazing procedure, much less painful than an intravenous or drawing blood. There is an exorbidant amount of information which can be obtained from the cerebrospinal fluid. Lumbar punctures are an outpatient procedure, usually performed by a neurologist, pediatrician, or family doctor and lasting only a few minutes. The goal of the tap is to collect and measure the pressure of the cerebro spinal fluid (CSF) which surrounds, cusions, and protects the brain and spinal cord. The CSF is a dense water-like fluid secreted by the brain and "flows through the skull and spine into the subara... ...e question and answer bulletin board. http://209.67.220.19/mayo/askphys/qa990215.htm 3)Picture of Lumbar Puncture Tray. http://www.neocare.com/_borders/lpk.ht1.jpg 4)Image of Lumbar Puncture http://night.medsch.ucla.edu/problem/wwid95/SPINLTP2.gif 5)Lumbar Puncture Procedures, For med students. http://www.medstudents.com.br/proced/lumbpunc.htm 6)Ask the Mayo Physician, More responses from the bulletin board. http://www.healthanswers.com/database/ami/converted/003515.html 7)Healthanswers medical research library. http://www.healthanswers.com/database/ami/converted/003526.html 8)Health central, More information from healthcentral, with image. http://www.healthcentral.com/mhc/img/img2930.cffm 9) Medical review., An informative site with lumbar puncture information. http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/news/review/archives/medrev_v1n1_0010.html

Benefits of technology Essay

Grandmother Selina grew up in age where everything was made by hand. She went to school where teachers mostly used chalks and wooden boards. However, today, teachers no longer use chock boards, instead they use smart boards or overhead projector. Selina used to carry a dictionary for school every day for her English class. However, today, there are fewer students carrying dictionaries because they have an access to an Internet; which helps to find the meaning of a word in less than a minute. Technology has a tremendous impact on people’s lives. It has become part of our everyday life. People have used technology as a great source of time saver. As a society, we have witnessed how technology has affected society negatively, but the advantages the technology has given people outweigh the disadvantages. As the technology has evolved, people have noticed how technology has been a useful tool in terms of increasing employment. According to Burnstein, â€Å"U.S. technology and business innovators recognize that robots in factories have potential to save and create more jobs than they eliminate†. The majorities of factories in the United States use machineries and robotics to produce products instead of paying someone to do it. Many people have argued that the technology evolution has increased unemployment because companies have replaced people with robotics and machineries. Even though more companies replace people with machineries; however, the good news is that the more companies replace machineries with people, the more companies will hire people with higher paying skilled jobs. People will now have to learn how to use machineries and robotics to work in companies that needs specialist on certain machineries. For example, people might get a job as a computer technician or machine operator. Also, many robotics and machineries related companies will have to hire people that design, build, and progr am the equipment. Nowadays, technology is fast paced and it is becoming more advanced day by day. Today, the majority of people that work in a company with large information technology divisions need a computer to get their work done. According to Jerome, there has been a new technology invention of distant servers that can easily replace the computer hard drives. However, â€Å"the cloud is already putting Americans to work. Google’s team has more than 1,000 employees, Texas cloud company RackSpace eploys 3,700 people, and  California-based provider Saleforces.com has 235 open positions, according to The Wall Street Journal†(Jerome). Technology has made our jobs so much easier. As a society in a whole, we need to take an advantage of what technology is providing us. For example, farmers’ physical labors have disappeared because now they use machines to do the work. According to Nye, â€Å"As recently as 150 years ago, most people in Europe and the United States were farmers. T oday, less than 5 percent remain on farms, and industrial work occupies only about 25 percent of workers† (Nye, 7). Because of this, many people argue that technology has impacted the job creation negatively. It has not just made our lives easier, but it also has helped people to save time and to find a better job. Few decades ago, construction workers used to work with tool such as hammers, ladder, and ropes. However, today, people use machineries such as nail gun, paint sprayer, and cranes. As Nye mentioned, â€Å"Tedious and dangerous factory work has been replaced by robot or automatic machines, while millions of people hold jobs that did not exist 150 years ago in the industries created around new technologies, such as computing, musical recording, broadcasting, design, advertising, and research and development† (7).Technology is advancing so rapidly that we might stay behind if we don’t adapt to it. Because of this, people need to improve their technological skills. The more we familiarize with technology, the more opportunity we will have finding a job. As technology has incre ased in our lives, we have been able to characterize the importance of technology in our social life. Technology has made our lives so much easier. For example, we don’t have to go to a bank to deposit checks because people can do this by simply uploading a check in their bank’s mobile application. Also, technology has provided us with Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system to travel without getting lost or asking for help; even cars are being made with GPS systems which helps drivers to comfortably drive wherever they want to. There have been many pros and cons about social media. In addition, some people say it has affected the way we communicate negatively by diminishing our social skills. However, the benefits of technology in our social life have overthrown the disadvantages that technology supposedly causes. Today, most of the people are using social media such as twitter, Facebook, Skype etc†¦ The popularity of Facebook and twitter has increased tremendously during the past few years; it has been a  great tool to keep in touch with your friends and fami ly. According to the psychiatrist Marley, â€Å"People who follow a lot of Twitters from diverse backgrounds could quickly build up an understanding of lots of people, and this in turn would enable them with ‘people knowledge’ that would better equip them for social interactions with people†(Marley). There are thousands of twitter users that are from different country, who speaks another language, and who shares different customs than others. Even though people are not interacting face to face with others, people can easily feel comfortable and get better understanding which can help communication. â€Å"In an age when all aspects of life are becoming increasingly electronic, social networking sites are turning into a social scene that caters young and adults, and provides for their interactive needs while connecting peers and colleagues worldwide† (Wittaker). Social networks can be a great way to look for support. Most of the time, people find support on social network when they feel sad, lonely or bored. According to Torr: Several studies have specially countered some prior research linking Internet use with isolation or depression, showing experienced users may find a greater support online, become more satisfied with their interaction and communication, and generate new relationship through the ability to contact others more easily than they can offline (Torr, 26). Also, social media makes it easier to communicate for people who don’t feel comfortable talking in person. Today, technology has been used as new way of entertainment. The majority of teenagers carry a smartphone; some people see this as a bad thing because they only use it to play games. However, what people don’t realize is that it is becoming a game changer. The reason why cell phones are becoming a game changer is because â€Å"kids themselves are bringing the device to school, we adults brought laptops into sc hool, and they are a yawn, as are netbooks because the kids see cell phones as their generation’s technology†(Soloway). Today, kids are much more familiarized with technology than what we were as a kid. In addition, technology also has changed the way we entertain ourselves. For example, our parents experienced music very differently than today’s digital natives. Not so long ago, people used to buy cd’s to listen to music or take pictures in a roll of film that had to be taken to the pharmacy to be printed out. However, today people can easily take a picture, share songs, or music videos through social network sites  such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Teenagers today, â€Å"expresses themselves creatively in ways that are very different from the ways their parents did at their age† (Palfrey, 6). Technology also has influenced the way people get important informations. For example, Internet provides us with great medical information such as how to cure a virus, fever or any kind of illnesses. According to Haugen, â€Å"a survey made on March 2005, about 17 million said that Internet had played a crucial and important role in helping them with major illness or medical conations†. Sometime, people use the internet to find a recommendable doctor nearby. For all these reasons technology has positively impacted the way that people participate in a social life. Other than technology being beneficial in our social life, we have also seen how the technology has provided benefits in the field of education. The majority of school districts prohibit electronic devices in classroom because it distracts them from learning. What parents and teachers don’t realize is that mobile devices such as smartphones can help students to understand the material better. Parents, teachers, and administrators refuse to allow students to use smartphones in class because students spend their time on social networks. However, â€Å" ‘ significantly more students who use mobile devices in the class room express a stronger interest in subjects than students than students who do not use these devices in classroom’† (Armstrong, 39). Learning social skills through social network can be an important skill for students to thrive in the future as a professional. As Gerber mentioned, â€Å"Social networking sites offer teenagers the opportunity to navigate everyday technology, learn valuable computer and social skill, and polish their language efficiently† (Gerber).As students interact with their friends through social networking sites, they become friendlier. They have an opportunity to meet other people not only inside of school, but also outside of school. Today’s generation are more literate, creative, and more socially skilled than their parent’s generation because of their early familiarity with the Internet. Social networking does not only improves student’s communication skills, but it also allows students to â€Å"share information and creative original work such as poetry and film† (Wittaker).College students have experienced the benefits of technology in many ways. For example, if students don’t know the meaning of any work, the first thing that they do is look it up online. This does not only give an  understanding of a word, but it also gives time to look for a variety of information. Also, in many colleges, instructors provide students a website where they can submit their class works and check their current grades. Since everything is becoming electronic, we have noticed that people are no longer reading newspapers. The time when we see someone reading a newspaper, are usually elderly pe ople. Most of these elderly people think that digital natives are not learning effectively because they don’t read newspapers. However, this argument is completely wrong because technology allows students to access tons of information that they’re interested in. According Palfrey mentioned, â€Å"Digital natives pick up bits and pieces of news and information as they go about their day, not in a single sitting at the breakfast table or in the front of the television in the evening†. Since today’s students have an easy access to the internet, they just look up for any news that they feel interested in. Technology has not only made learning easy, but it also has trained students to improve technological skill for the future where everything is going to be electronic. Grandmother Selina would have been lucky if she was born in today’s age. She would not have had to carry heavy dictionary to her class. Technology has made our life less complicated by saving t ime and allowing more flexibility. Technology has changed in a blink of an eye. As a society, we have realized that without technology our lives would be slow-paced. It has helped to improve people’s knowledge, ability to work, and greater ability to improve people’s communication. People need to be up to date with the technology because that’s what the future holds for us. In few years from now, we well depend on technology to survive; since it is becoming a part of our lives. People need to stop worrying about the negative impact of technology, and focus on what technology has to provide us. Works Cited Armstrong, Alice. â€Å"Technology In The Classroom It’s Not A Matter Of ‘If,’ But ‘When’ And ‘How’.† Education Digest 79.5 (2014): 39. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. Burnstein, Jeff. â€Å"Technology and Automation Create Jobs.† Unemployment. Ed. David Haugen and Susan Musser. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from â€Å"Robots Can Create Jobs, Too.† Robotic Industries Association, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Gerber, Lauren. â€Å"Social Networking Sites Help Students Gain Important Skills.† Are Social Networking Sites Harmful? Ed. Stefan Kiesbye. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. At Issue. Rpt. from â€Å"New Discovery: Teenagers Are Actually Benefiting From Spending Too Much Time Online.† PC1news.com. 2008. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 May 2014. Haugen, David. Ed. Technology and Society. Detroit. Thomson Gale, 2007. Print. Jerome, Sara. â€Å"Cloud Technology Will Create Jobs.† Technology and the Cloud. Ed. David Haugen and Susan Musser. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from â€Å"Cloud Computing’s Silver Lining: Jobs.† National Journal 18 (29 Oct. 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 May 2014. Marley, Justin. â€Å"Twitter Is Transforming Social Relationships.† What Is the Impact of Twitter? Ed. Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from â€Å"Could Twitter Im pact on Social Relationships?† theamazingworldofpsychiatry.wordpress.com. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 May 2014. Nye, David E. Technology Matters: Question to Live With. Massachusetts. The MIT Press, 2006.Print Palfrey, John and Urs Gasser. Born Digital: Understand the First Generation of Digital Natives. New York. Basic Books, 2008. Print Soloway, Elliot. â€Å"Smartphones Will Benefit Classroom Learning.† Smartphones. Ed. Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from â€Å"Will Smart Phones Eliminate the Digital Divide?† THE Journal (1 Feb. 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 May 2014. Torr, James D. ed. The Interet: Opposing Viewpoints. New York. Thomson Gale, 2005. Print. Whittaker, AnneWagner, Geraldine. â€Å"Point: Social Networking Websites Provide A Healthy Way To Improve Friendships.† Points Of View: Social Networking Sites (2013): 2. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 24 Apr. 2014