Saturday, August 31, 2019

Strategies to Discourage Social Loafing

Strategies to discourage social loafing: Social loafing can be described as a tendency of individuals to exert less effort when they are part of a group. Since, all individuals are sharing their efforts to accomplish set goals; each member of the group contributes less than he/she would if he/she was individually accountable. One of the major reasons behind this behavior is that individuals think that they are not being acknowledged for their efforts. Such believing brings their moral down and therefore team members see no reason to reach high-level performance while working within the team. This behavior also develops when individual responsibilities within a team are not well-defined, or when management cannot track performance with precision. To correct and eliminate social loafing within the team players and to provide positive advantage to organization, the following steps can be taken. By defining clear roles and responsibilities to each team member in the beginning of the project will help each individual to achieve set goals and objectives. – By observing each individual’s contribution closely. -Set up individual assignments that reflect results toward the end project. -Assign individual tasks according to his/her skill set and strengths. This approach will promote the individual to accomplish assigned tasks in an effective manner. -Employ team reviews and member evaluations on regular basis. Simplify the rol es and responsibilities for the team to follow. -Support and persuade team members with loyalty. -Provide timely feedback to each team member on assigned tasks. -Using the management by walking around method can also reduce the social loafing within the team individuals. This practice will help management obtaining a better understanding of the work being done outside as well as building relationship with employees. Similarly, team members will learn that management is coming around anytime that will reduce the possible chances of social loafing.

Vampire Academy Chapter 11

ELEVEN â€Å"YOU NEED SOMETHING TO WEAR?† Lissa asked. â€Å"Hmm?† I glanced over at her. We were waiting for Mr. Nagy's Slavic art class to start, and I was preoccupied with listening to Mia adamantly deny the claims about her parents to one of her friends. â€Å"It's not like they're servants or anything,† she exclaimed, clearly flustered. Straightening her face, she tried for haughtiness. â€Å"They're practically advisors. The Drozdovs don't decide anything without them.† I choked on a laugh, and Lissa shook her head. â€Å"You're enjoying this way too much.† â€Å"Because it's awesome. What'd you just ask me?† I dug through my bag, messily looking for my lip gloss. I made a face when I found it. It was almost empty; I didn't know where I was going to score some more. â€Å"I asked if you need something to wear tonight,† she said. â€Å"Well, yeah, of course I do. But none of your stuff fits me.† â€Å"What are you going to do?† I shrugged my shoulders. â€Å"Improvise, like always. I don't really care anyway. I'm just glad Kirova's letting me go.† We had an assembly tonight. It was November 1, All Saints' Day – which also meant we'd been back almost a month now. A royal group was visiting the school, including Queen Tatiana herself. Honestly, that wasn't what excited me. She'd visited the Academy before. It was pretty common and a lot less cool than it sounded. Besides, after living among humans and elected leaders, I didn't think much of stiff royals. Still, I'd gotten permission to go because everyone else would be there. It was a chance to hang out with actual people for a change and not stay locked in my dorm room. A little freedom was definitely worth the pain of sitting through a few boring speeches. I didn't stay to chat with Lissa after school like I usually did. Dimitri had stuck to his promise about extra trainings, and I was trying to stick to mine. I now had two additional hours of practice with him, one before and one after school. The more I watched him in action, the more I understood the badass-god reputation. He clearly knew a lot – his six molnija marks proved as much – and I burned to have him teach me what he knew. When I arrived at the gym, I noticed he was wearing a T-shirt and loose running pants, as opposed to his usual jeans. It was a good look for him. Really good. Stop looking, I immediately told myself. He positioned me so that we stood facing each other on the mat and crossed his arms. â€Å"What's the first problem you'll run into when facing a Strigoi?† â€Å"They're immortal?† â€Å"Think of something more basic.† More basic than that? I considered. â€Å"They could be bigger than me. And stronger.† Most Strigoi – unless they'd been human first – had the same height as their Moroi cousins. Strigoi also had better strength, reflexes, and senses than dhampirs. That's why guardians trained so hard; we had a â€Å"learning curve† to compensate for. Dimitri nodded. â€Å"That makes it difficult but not impossible. You can usually use a person's extra height and weight against them.† He turned and demonstrated several maneuvers, pointing out where to move and how to strike someone. Going through the motions with him, I gained some insight into why I took such a regular beating in group practice. I absorbed his techniques quickly and couldn't wait to actually use them. Near the end of our time together, he let me try. â€Å"Go ahead,† he said. â€Å"Try to hit me.† I didn't need to be told twice. Lunging forward, I tried to land a blow and was promptly blocked and knocked down onto the mat. Pain surged through my body, but I refused to give in to it. I jumped up again, hoping to catch him off guard. I didn't. After several more failed attempts, I stood up and held out my hands in a gesture of truce. â€Å"Okay, what am I doing wrong?† â€Å"Nothing.† I wasn't as convinced. â€Å"If I wasn't doing anything wrong, I'd have rendered you unconscious by now.† â€Å"Unlikely. Your moves are all correct, but this is the first time you've really tried. I've done it for years.† I shook my head and rolled my eyes at his older-and-wiser manner. He'd once told me he was twenty-four. â€Å"Whatever you say, Grandpa. Can we try it again?† â€Å"We're out of time. Don't you want to get ready?† I looked at the dusty clock on the wall and perked up. Almost time for the banquet. The thought made me giddy I felt like Cinderella, but without the clothes. â€Å"Hell, yeah, I do.† He walked off ahead of me. Studying him carefully, I realized I couldn't let the opportunity go by. I leapt at his back, positioning myself exactly the way he'd taught me. I had the element of surprise. Everything was perfect, and he wouldn't even see me coming. Before I could make contact, he spun around at a ridiculously high speed. In one deft motion, he grabbed me like I weighed nothing and threw me to the ground, pinning me there. I groaned. â€Å"I didn't do anything wrong!† His eyes looked levelly into mine as he held my wrists, but he didn't look as serious as he had during the lesson. He seemed to find this funny. â€Å"The battle cry sort of gave you away. Try not to yell next time.† â€Å"Would it have really made a difference if I'd been quiet?† He thought about it. â€Å"No. Probably not.† I sighed loudly, still in too much of a good mood to really let this disappointment get me down. There were some advantages to having such a kick-ass mentor – one who also happened to have a foot of height on me and outweighed me considerably. And that wasn't even considering his strength. He wasn't bulky but his body had a lot of hard, lean muscle. If I could ever beat him, I could beat anyone. All of a sudden, it occurred to me that he was still holding me down. The skin on his fingers was warm as he clutched my wrists. His face hovered inches from my own, and his legs and torso were actually pressing against mine. Some of his long brown hair hung around his face, and he appeared to be noticing me too, almost like he had that night in the lounge. And oh God, did he smell good. Breathing became difficult for me, and it had nothing to do with the workout or my lungs being crushed. I would have given anything to be able to read his mind right then. Ever since that night in the lounge, I'd noticed him watching me with this same, studious expression. He never actually did it during the trainings themselves – those were business. But before and after, he would sometimes lighten up just a little, and I'd see him look at me in a way that was almost admiring. And sometimes, if I was really, really lucky, he'd smile at me. A real smile, too – not the dry one that accompanied the sarcasm we tossed around so often. I didn't want to admit it to anyone – not to Lissa, not even to myself – but some days, I lived for those smiles. They lit up his face. â€Å"Gorgeous† no longer adequately described him. Hoping to appear calm, I tried to think of something professional and guardian-related to say. Instead, I said, â€Å"So um†¦you got any other moves to show me?† His lips twitched, and for a moment, I thought I was going to get one of those smiles. My heart leapt. Then, with visible effort, he pushed the smile back and once more became my tough-love mentor. He shifted off me, leaned back on his heels, and rose. â€Å"Come on. We should go.† I scrambled to my own feet and followed him out of the gym. He didn't look back as he walked, and I mentally kicked myself on the way back to my room. I was crushing on my mentor. Crushing on my older mentor. I had to be out of my mind. He was seven years older than me. Old enough to be my†¦well, okay, nothing. But still older than me. Seven years was a lot. He'd been learning to write when I was born. When I'd been learning to write and throw books at my teachers, he'd probably been kissing girls. Probably lots of girls, considering how he looked. I so did not need this complication in my life right now. I found a passable sweater back in my room and after a quick shower, I headed off across campus to the reception. Despite the looming stone walls, fancy statues, and turrets on the outsides of the buildings, the Academy's insides were quite modern. We had Wi-Fi, fluorescent lights, and just about anything else technological you could imagine. The commons in particular looked pretty much like the cafeterias I'd eaten in while in Portland and Chicago, with simple rectangular tables, soothing taupe walls, and a little room off to the side where our dubiously prepared meals were served. Someone had at least hung framed black-and-white photos along the walls in an effort to decorate it, but I didn't really consider pictures of vases and leafless trees â€Å"art.† Tonight, however, someone had managed to transform the normally boring commons into a bona fide dining room. Vases spilling over with crimson roses and delicate white lilies. Glowing candles. Tablecloths made of – wait for it – bloodred linen. The effect was gorgeous. It was hard to believe this was the same place I usually ate chicken patty sandwiches in. It looked fit for, well, a queen. The tables had been arranged in straight lines, creating an aisle down the middle of the room. We had assigned seating, and naturally, I couldn't sit anywhere near Lissa. She sat in the front with the other Moroi; I was in the back with the novices. But she did catch my eye when I entered and flashed me a smile. She'd borrowed a dress from Natalie – blue, silky, and strapless – that looked amazing with her pale features. Who'd known Natalie owned anything so good? It made my sweater lose a few cool points. They always conducted these formal banquets in the same way. A head table sat on a dais at the front of the room, where we could all ooh and ahh and watch Queen Tatiana and other royals eat dinner. Guardians lined the walls, as stiff and formal as statues. Dimitri stood among them, and a weird feeling twisted my stomach as I recalled what had happened in the gym. His eyes stared straight ahead, as if focusing on nothing and everything in the room at once. When the time came for the royals' entrance, we all stood up respectfully and watched as they walked down the aisle. I recognized a few, mostly those who had children attending the Academy. Victor Dashkov was among them, walking slowly and with a cane. While I was happy to see him, I cringed to watch each agonizing step he took toward the front of the room. Once that group had passed, four solemn guardians with red-and-black-pin-striped jackets entered the commons. Everyone but the guardians along the walls sank to our knees in a silly show of loyalty. What a lot of ceremony and posturing, I thought wearily. Moroi monarchs were chosen by the previous monarch from within the royal families. The king or queen couldn't choose one of his or her own direct descendents, and a council from the noble and royal families could dispute the choice with enough cause. That almost never happened, though. Queen Tatiana followed her guards, wearing a red silk dress and matching jacket. She was in her early sixties and had dark gray hair bobbed to her chin and crowned with a Miss America-type tiara. She moved into the room slowly, like she was taking a stroll, four more guardians at her back. She moved through the novices' section fairly quickly, though she did nod and smile here and there. Dhampirs might just be the half-human, illegitimate children of the Moroi, but we trained and dedicated our lives to serving and protecting them. The likelihood was strong that many of us gathered here would die young, and the queen had to show her respect for that. When she got to the Moroi section, she paused longer and actually spoke to a few students. It was a big deal to be acknowledged, mostly a sign that someone's parents had gotten in good with her. Naturally, the royals got the most attention. She didn't really say much to them that was all that interesting, mostly just a lot of fancy words. â€Å"Vasilisa Dragomir.† My head shot up. Alarm coursed through the bond at the sound of her name. Breaking protocol, I pushed out of my position and wiggled over to get a better view, knowing no one would notice me when the queen herself had personally singled out the last of the Dragomirs. Everyone was eager to see what the monarch had to say to Lissa the runaway princess. â€Å"We heard you had returned. We are glad to have the Dragomirs back, even though only one remains. We deeply regret the loss of your parents and your brother; they were among the finest of the Moroi, their deaths a true tragedy.† I'd never really understood the royal â€Å"we† thing, but otherwise, everything sounded okay. â€Å"You have an interesting name,† she continued. â€Å"Many heroines in Russian fairy tales are named Vasilisa. Vasilisa the Brave, Vasilisa the Beautiful. They are different young women, all having the same name and the same excellent qualities: strength, intelligence, discipline, and virtue. All accomplish great things, triumphing over their adversaries. â€Å"Likewise, the Dragomir name commands its own respect. Dragomir kings and queens have ruled wisely and justly in our history. They have used their powers for miraculous ends. They have slain Strigoi, fighting right alongside their guardians. They are royal for a reason.† She waited a moment, letting the weight of her words sink in. I could feel the mood changing in the room, as well as the surprise and shy pleasure creeping out from Lissa. This would shake the social balance. We could probably expect a few wannabes trying to get in good with Lissa tomorrow. â€Å"Yes,† Tatiana continued, â€Å"you are doubly named with power. Your names represent the finest qualities people have to offer and hearken back in time to deeds of greatness and valor.† She paused a moment. â€Å"But, as you have demonstrated, names do not make a person. Nor do they have any bearing on how that person turns out.† And with that verbal slap in the face, she turned away and continued her procession. A collective shock filled the room. I briefly contemplated and then dismissed any attempts at jumping into the aisle and tackling the queen. Half a dozen guardians would have me down on the floor before I'd even taken five steps. So I sat impatiently through dinner, all the while feeling Lissa's absolute mortification. When the post-dinner reception followed, Lissa made a beeline for the doors leading out to the courtyard. I followed, but got delayed having to weave around and avoid the mingling, socializing people. She'd wandered outside to an adjacent courtyard, one that matched the Academy's grand external style. A roof of carved, twisting wood covered the garden, with little holes here and there to let in some light, but not enough to cause damage to Moroi. Trees, leaves now gone for the winter, lined the area and guarded paths leading out to other gardens, courtyards, and the main quadrangle. A pond, also emptied for the winter, lay in a corner, and standing over it was an imposing statue of St. Vladimir himself. Carved of gray rock, he wore long robes and had a beard and mustache. Rounding a corner, I stopped when I saw Natalie had beaten me to Lissa. I considered interrupting but stepped back before they could see me. Spying might be bad, but I was suddenly very curious to hear what Natalie had to say to Lissa. â€Å"She shouldn't have said that,† Natalie said. She wore a yellow dress similar in cut to Lissa's, but somehow lacked the grace and poise to make it look as good. Yellow was also a terrible color on her. It clashed with her black hair, which she'd put up into an off-center bun. â€Å"It wasn't right,† she went on. â€Å"Don't let it bother you.† â€Å"Kind of late for that.† Lissa's eyes were locked firmly on the stone walkway below. â€Å"She was wrong.† â€Å"She's right,† Lissa exclaimed. â€Å"My parents†¦and Andre†¦they would have hated me for what I did.† â€Å"No, they wouldn't have.† Natalie spoke in a gentle voice. â€Å"It was stupid to run away. Irresponsible.† â€Å"So what? You made a mistake. I make mistakes all the time. The other day, I was doing this assignment in science, and it was for chapter ten, and I'd actually read chapter elev – † Natalie stopped herself and, in a remarkable show of restraint, got herself back on track. â€Å"People change. We're always changing, right? You aren't the same as you were then. I'm not the same as I was then.† Actually, Natalie seemed exactly the same to me, but that didn't bother me so much anymore. She'd grown on me. â€Å"Besides,† she added, â€Å"was running away really a mistake? You must have done it for a reason. You must have gotten something out of it, right? There was a lot of bad stuff going on with you, wasn't there? With your parents and your brother. I mean, maybe it was the right thing to do.† Lissa hid a smile. Both of us were pretty sure Natalie was trying to find out why we had left – just like everyone else in the school. She sort of sucked at being sneaky. â€Å"I don't know if it was, no,† Lissa answered. â€Å"I was weak. Andre wouldn't have run away. He was so good. Good at everything. Good at getting along with people and all that royal crap.† â€Å"You're good at that too.† â€Å"I guess. But I don't like it. I mean, I like people†¦but most of what they do is so fake. That's what I don't like.† â€Å"Then don't feel bad about not getting involved,† Natalie said. â€Å"I don't hang out with all those people either, and look at me. I'm just fine. Daddy says he doesn't care if I hang out with the royals or not. He just wants me to be happy.† â€Å"And that,† I said, finally making my appearance, â€Å"is why he should be ruling instead of that bitch of a queen. He got robbed.† Natalie nearly jumped ten feet. I felt pretty confident her vocabulary of swear words mostly consisted of â€Å"golly† and â€Å"darn.† â€Å"I wondered where you were,† said Lissa. Natalie looked back and forth between us, suddenly seeming a little embarrassed to be right between the best-friends dream team. She shifted uncomfortably and tucked some messy hair behind her ear. â€Å"Well†¦I should go find Daddy. I'll see you back in the room.† â€Å"See you,† said Lissa. â€Å"And thanks.† Natalie hurried off. â€Å"Does she really call him ? ®Daddy'?† Lissa cut me a look. â€Å"Leave her alone. She's nice.† â€Å"She is, actually. I heard what she said, and as much as I hate to admit it, there was nothing there I could really make fun of. It was all true.† I paused. â€Å"I'll kill her, you know. The queen, not Natalie. Screw the guardians. I'll do it. She can't get away with that.† â€Å"God, Rose! Don't say that. They'll arrest you for treason. Just let it go.† â€Å"Let it go? After what she said to you? In front of everyone?† She didn't answer or even look at me. Instead, she toyed absentmindedly with the branches of a scraggly bush that had gone dormant for the winter. There was a vulnerable look about her that I recognized – and feared. â€Å"Hey.† I lowered my voice. â€Å"Don't look like that. She doesn't know what she's talking about, okay? Don't let this get you down. Don't do anything you shouldn't.† She glanced back up at me. â€Å"It's going to happen again, isn't it?† she whispered. Her hand, still clutching the tree, began to tremble. â€Å"Not if you don't let it.† I tried to look at her wrists without being too obvious. â€Å"You haven't?†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"No.† She shook her head and blinked back tears. â€Å"I haven't wanted to. I was upset after the fox, but it's been okay. I like the coasting thing. I miss seeing you, but everything's been all right. I like†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She paused. I could hear the word forming in her mind. â€Å"Christian.† â€Å"I wish you couldn't do that. Or wouldn't.† â€Å"Sorry. Do I need to give you the Christian's-a-psychopathic-loser talk again?† â€Å"I think I've got it memorized after the last ten times,† she muttered. I started to launch into number eleven when I heard the sound of laughter and the clatter of high heels on stone. Mia walked toward us with a few friends in tow but no Aaron. Immediately my defenses snapped on. Internally, Lissa was still shaken over the queen's comments. Sorrow and humiliation were swirling inside of her. She felt embarrassed over what others must think of her now and kept thinking about how her family would have hated her for running away. I didn't believe that, but it felt real to her, and her dark emotions churned and churned. She was not okay, no matter how casual she'd just tried to act, and I was worried she might do something reckless. Mia was the last person she needed to see right now. â€Å"What do you want?† I demanded. Mia smiled haughtily at Lissa and ignored me, taking a few steps forward. â€Å"Just wanted to know what it's like to be so important and so royal. You must be so excited that the queen talked to you.† Giggles surfaced from the gathering group. â€Å"You're standing too close.† I stepped between them, and Mia flinched a little, possibly still worried I might break her arm. â€Å"And hey at least the queen knew her name, which is more than I can say for you and your wannabe-royal act. Or your parents.† I could see the pain that caused her. Man, she wanted to be royal so badly. â€Å"At least I see my parents,† she retorted. â€Å"At least I know who they both are. God only knows who your father is. And your mom's one of the most famous guardians around, but she couldn't care less about you either. Everyone knows she never visits. Probably was glad when you were gone. If she even noticed.† That hurt. I clenched my teeth. â€Å"Yeah, well, at least she's famous. She really does advise royals and nobles. She doesn't clean up after them.† I heard one of her friends snicker behind her. Mia opened her mouth, no doubt to unleash one of the many retorts she'd had to accumulate since the story started going around, when the lightbulb suddenly went off in her head. â€Å"It was you,† she said, eyes wide. â€Å"Someone told me Jesse'd started it, but he couldn't have known anything about me. He got it from you. When you slept with him.† Now she was really starting to piss me off. â€Å"I didn't sleep with him.† Mia pointed at Lissa and glared back at me. â€Å"So that's it, huh? You do her dirty work because she's too pathetic to do it herself. You aren't always going to be able to protect her,† she warned. â€Å"You aren't safe either.† Empty threats. I leaned forward, making my voice as menacing as possible. In my current mood, it wasn't difficult. â€Å"Yeah? Try and touch me now and find out.† I hoped she would. I wanted her to. We didn't need her messed-up vendetta in our lives just now. She was a distraction – one I very much wanted to punch right now. Looking past her, I saw Dimitri move out into the garden, eyes searching for something – or someone. I had a pretty good idea who it was. When he saw me, he strode forward, shifting his attention when he noticed the crowd gathered around us. Guardians can smell a fight a mile away. Of course, a six-year-old could have smelled this fight. Dimitri stood beside me and crossed his arms. â€Å"Everything all right?† â€Å"Sure thing, Guardian Belikov.† I smiled as I said it, but I was furious. Raging, even. This whole Mia confrontation had only made Lissa feel worse. â€Å"We were just swapping family stories. Ever heard Mia's? It's fascinating.† â€Å"Come on,† said Mia to her followers. She led them off, but not before she'd given me one last, chilling look. I didn't need to read her mind to know what it said. This wasn't over. She was going to try to get one or both of us back. Fine. Bring it on, Mia. â€Å"I'm supposed to take you back to your dorm,† Dimitri told me drily. â€Å"You weren't about to just start a fight, were you?† â€Å"Of course not,† I said, my eyes still staring at the empty doorway Mia had disappeared through. â€Å"I don't start fights where people can see them.† â€Å"Rose,† groaned Lissa. â€Å"Let's go. Good night, Princess.† He turned, but I didn't move. â€Å"You going to be okay, Liss?† She nodded. â€Å"I'm fine.† It was such a lie, I couldn't believe she had the nerve to try to put it past me. I didn't need the bond to see tears shining in her eyes. We should never have come back to this place, I realized bleakly. â€Å"Liss†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She gave me a small, sad smile and nodded in Dimitri's direction. â€Å"I told you, I'm fine. You've got to go.† Reluctantly, I followed him. He led me out toward the other side of the garden. â€Å"We may need to add an extra training on self-control,† he noted. â€Å"I have plenty of self contr – hey!† I stopped talking as I saw Christian slip past us, moving down the path we'd just come from. I hadn't seen him at the reception, but if Kirova had released me to come tonight, I suppose she would have done the same for him. â€Å"You going to see Lissa?† I demanded, shifting my Mia rage to him. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and gave me that look of bad-boy indifference. â€Å"What if I am?† â€Å"Rose, this isn't the time,† said Dimitri. But it was so the time. Lissa had ignored my warnings about Christian for weeks. It was time to go to the source and stop their ridiculous flirtation once and for all. â€Å"Why don't you just leave her alone? Are you so messed up and desperate for attention that you can't tell when someone doesn't like you?† He scowled. â€Å"You're some crazy stalker, and she knows it. She's told me all about your weird obsession – how you're always hanging out in the attic together, how you set Ralf on fire to impress her. She thinks you're a freak, but she's too nice to say anything.† His face had paled, and something dark churned in his eyes. â€Å"But you aren't too nice?† â€Å"No. Not when I feel sorry for someone.† â€Å"Enough,† said Dimitri, steering me away. â€Å"Thanks for ? ®helping,' then,† snapped Christian, his voice dripping with animosity. â€Å"No problem,† I called back over my shoulder. When we'd gone a little ways, I stole a glance behind me and saw Christian standing just outside the garden. He'd stopped walking and now stood staring down the path that led to Lissa in the courtyard. Shadows covered his face as he thought, and then, after a few moments, he turned around and headed back toward the Moroi dorms.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Getting To Yes

I played the part of the agent for this exercise and Chloe played the role of business manager. In this case, I was trying to negotiate a deal for Sally Soprano. Basically my job was to make sure that she got the lead role of Norma. Sally did not care how much she was going to get paid; she just wanted the role because it was going to revitalize her career. This lead role would then give her momentum to get into different mediums such as movies and television.Right off the bat in the negotiations I tried to separate the person from the problem. Instead of coming right out and telling Chloe that I wanted this, this, and this, I asked her about what she thought about Sally and how she might affect the show. I also asked her about what she felt about having Sally be the lead performer instead of telling her how great Sally would be for the part. I wanted to make sure that we talked about all of the outstanding issues at hand before we even started negotiating about who get what in the s ituation.While I was using this technique I felt that Chloe was becoming much more comfortable with my approach and me. Instead of putting her on the defensive and guarding her position. I felt that she was much more willing to work with me and cooperate on the negotiations. It worked because in the end I feel like we came to a deal that worked very well for all parties involved.I remember Chloe using the technique of generating options for mutual gain. So my main goal we discovered was to make sure that Sally Soprano could have enough publicity that would launch her into tv and movies. Chloe wanted to make sure the theatre could sustain itself and stay financially viable. So we exchanged many different ideas about how we could both mutually benefit from each other. We discussed profit sharing and different ways to split up the money. I had to relay to Chloe that Sally Soprano was a veteran who could guarantee a great show/ performance. Yet Chloe was hesitant to want to sign such an ageing star, this lead to some conflict.A part that I could have used more would have been focusing on interest and not so much on positions. I tried to stay open and accommodating yet I had to hammer home the fact that Sally needed to get the lead role and there was no other way around it. This may have led to some roadblocks in out bargaining and may have been a poor choice on my part. Yet in the end we decided on Sally would get the main part for 18,000 and would be guaranteed three additional shows in the future to ensure that she got the kind of exposure that she wanted.As a person who is new to the GTY method of negotiating I think that separating the people from the problems is the hardest part of negotiating with this new technique. Some people are hard wired into thinking that they must fight for what they have to get and are on the opposite team as the other person. Yet I feel like what GTY teaches most is making deals the benefit both parties involved. Which in the end i s what both people want.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

People of the PNW before 1800 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

People of the PNW before 1800 - Assignment Example Robert Gray was the captain of the ship which was commenced in 1788 (Robbins, 2002). The native communities who lived along river Columbia ranged widely in language, cultural organizations, living conditions and economic relations. There were two communities who lived in the upper river. They included The Dallas and chinookan. The Dallas communicated with Sahaptin languages, while chikookan languages reigned downriver (Robbins, 2002). Coastal people tended to live in fixed village sites due to lack of food sources. During the winter, fish and shellfish were easily harvested from estuaries and streams due to the relative mildness. In the western region, people gathered roots, seeds, nuts and berries that were harvested easily from the oak savannas and foothills (Robbins, 2002). They greatly involved themselves in trade. They not only traded with the nearby villages but also occasionally traded with the voyages in seagoing canoes from the north. The Tillamook people, occupants of the northern coast, were familiar with the trails that passed through the headlands. They also related well with the people from the North and the South. Europeans from Span, France, Russia and Britain showed interest in the last quarter of eighteenth century (Robbins, 2002). Voyages that involved Cook and Vancouver and their counterparts were made to the coast of Oregon to gather information for British, American and European communities. In addition, their exploration gave information to the world about the Native people, potential commercial resources and important information about trade (Robbins, 2002). In the following years, there was the development of fur trade that attracted a group of people known as the Mountain Men. They worked with the local Natives to supply beaver and other forms of fur to the Hudson’s Bay Company and many other companies (Tate, 2005). Some of the people used the black slave trade labor in their work. Also

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Alternative Therapy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Alternative Therapy - Assignment Example In case of terminal illness in which promoting the further health of the patient is all but meaningless, the extent and degree to which such an alternative approach could maximize the utility of the patient is exponentially greater than that of the traditional treatment (Stanulović et al, 2013). It is not the purpose of this brief response to state the alternative treatments have their place alongside traditional treatments in each and every health issue and concern; rather, it is merely the intent of this author to point to the fact that there are many relevant areas of health in which alternative treatments can provide a needed benefit or even a complimentary benefit, if used in tandem with traditional treatments, to the end patient. Additionally, the factor of cost is oftentimes, but not always, lowers with respect to alternative treatments; yet another enticing prospect for their application with regards to many economic factors that constrain the patient (Alternative Measure s of Personal Saving,

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Ethology on monogamy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethology on monogamy - Essay Example In the work of Eibl-Eibesfeldt it is arguable that men have a higher reproduction potential as opposed to women (235). This means that men can produce as many children as possible as opposed to the women (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 235). Ethologists also argue that men hold the perception that they can produce children, not take care of them and get away with it. The society in this case, has been categorized as a patriarchal one that sees propagation of genes, by the ones in control of the natural resources the means of production in the society (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 235). This trend needs to be replaced by monogamy. On the contrary, I would argue against this fact by indicating that women also have a way of accessing means of production, and having the number of children they wish as opposed to the archaic times. This will prevent the rising of groups of promiscuous men in the society. Adultery should, therefore, not be termed as a norm in the society. Eibl-Eibesfeldt says that in the globe today, women are also polyandrous, whereby women can marry as many men as they wish (236). Systems have in this case been reversed. On another viewpoint, Eibl-Eibesfeldt indicates that hyper-sexualization is immoral (235). In human beings, sexual behavior is as well for bonding as opposed to procreation exclusively. Besides the need to have children, there is need for a couple to have extended needs with their couples. Both the man and woman are able to care for children, usual for Homo sapiens. Group marriages are then disqualified; thus, man is not allowed to fall in love with other females (Eibl-Eibesfeld t 236). Sexual freedom is then confined to one person; an argument that leads to Eibl-Eibesfeldt indicating that patriarchal families need to be dissolved as they are unnatural and exploitive (236). Monogamous families are victorious, as one gender mostly the woman paves way for the leadership of the male as the head of the family, as opposed to the polygamous families, that have various centers of power. Jensen says that in monogamous marriages, both males and females bond for a while, and that both parents contribute to caring for the offspring (80). This clearly indicates that the males have no justification of leaving the child behind with the mother on the basis that the women need to care for the children. The males then have no time to look for other women but contribute equally in caring for their offspring. This concurs to the thoughts of Joanna, who indicates that monogamy is not an exception, but to a certain extent, a rule that ought to be adhered to by humans (256). Joa nna also indicates that females, without paternal assistance are clearly unable to raise their off springs in the right manner (263). The research also indicates that males and females need to take turns in caring for the child, an aspect that leads to the males having no option, but to care for their child, and not shift their attention to other females. Adultery, in this case, is forbidden. On a lighter note, Jensen indicates that men ought not to be monogamous as males will only maximize their reproductive prowess by assisting their mates in a joint offspring upbringing (80). Breeding with a huge number of females, creates a harsh situation whereby the females cannot defend themselves against competitors of the means of production, with the existing scarce resources. Additionally, males should not be polygamous as the physical environment is too insensitive and callous in a manner that the females cannot provide for their offspring single- handedly. Monogamous men are also instru mental in the planning of breeding dates; thus, ease the

Monday, August 26, 2019

Music in Twentieth Century Wales Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Music in Twentieth Century Wales - Essay Example Through education and the support of patrons, Welsh music has set into a vigorous motion that encompasses other musical horizons that has led to a significant transformation of music that is performed in Wales.2 This has included instrumental music, chamber music plus symphonic output music.3 The creation of ensembles at Welsh universities and the establishment of a national orchestra coupled with the British Broadcasting Corporation national Orchestra of Wales has given rise to an unrivalled interest in instrumental music either orchestral or chamber. Composers of the twentieth century have also added an impetus towards the interaction of Welsh classical music and music from other parts of the world. Prominent artists to have come from Wales include Mansen Thomas, Daniel Jones, Alun Hoddinott and others form the current crop of musicians. Wales has a different kind of music as compared to music from other parts of the world, that has given it the title â€Å"the land of song† , and the music is normally associated with deep male voice exemplified in bands and choirs such as the Treorchy Male Voice Choir. In the twentieth century, an upsurge of national and international acts such as the Manic Street Preachers that sang a new crop of music quite distinct from the usual Welsh tunes. The Welsh songs in the twentieth century and beyond have been characterized by narratives done in dramatic fashion, contrasts and climaxes that may be thrilling in nature. These are performed by bands composed of people who appreciate brass bands and their percussive effect. In the twentieth century, the importance of music and its performance in the Welsh society especially in the education sector has been emphasized through different media and performances. Different researchers have shown that the music is developed with a deep focus on festivals, brass bands, choirs composed of males and emergence of mixed choirs. Other modes include the development of music competitions co vering Welsh music and their performance at all stages in the society. At the beginning of the twentieth century and beyond, Wales has seen an upsurge music groups playing rock and pop through groupings, ensembles, bands or individuals.4 Individuals include such persons as Dave Edmunds, Shakin Stevens and Shirley Bassey who have revolutionized the music society in Wales. Groups of singers include john cale of the Velvet Underground while popular bands in Wales include the Amen Corner, The Alarm and many other groups. The Welsh National Eisteddfod5 is a major festival that provides an opportunity for the Welsh to celebrate their culture especially their music. It is normally held every year and in different venues and every or most members of the Welsh community gather to watch harpists and bards perform songs whereby the singers are accompanied by harps and the performance is competitive.6 In Wales, most of the choirs are male dominated that have been known to belt good tunes around the world. One of the best-known male choir bands of the twentieth century that has promoted the virtue of Welsh music is the Treorchy and the Morriston Orpheus male voice choirs that have toured the whole world with great performances. Recently, other choirs have come up and grown popular, for example the

Sunday, August 25, 2019

American racism between 1600 and 1975 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

American racism between 1600 and 1975 - Essay Example This essay highlights the impact of political, economical and social factors that shaped American racism between the period of 1600 and 1975. Racism in America is mainly because of the color discrimination among people. Though American society is united and there are fewer conflicts among people still the color discrimination persists. During the sixteenth century it was a major problem and people hated each other because of this reason. Racism mainly started in Africa after people were made to work for European colonies forcefully. Slowly slavery spread across the world and the European colonies were set up in America as well. People were offered jobs and they were made to do difficult jobs all day against their wish. Slavery took a very adverse face when people were sold from one owner to another. Men, women and children were made to do different kind of jobs for the rich people in the European colonies (Beisner, 2003). The political structure during the sixteenth century led to the rise in racism in the western society. In American political system the government was involved in the transportation of slaves from America to Europe. Due to involvement of government in slavery, racism had drastic affects on the life of people and society. The political structure let people from different countries to come to America and increase the slavery business. People were sold out at high prices and they were treated in the worst ways possible. There were many death reports about people if they turned their back to the white people. Sixteenth century undoubtedly faced the toughest challenge due to racism. People in America faced the challenge because they did not have any voting rights. The government formed by selection not by election hence there was no choice given to people and they had to accept all the changes without any questions. During this period the black skin people faced the toughest challenge an d they

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Construction Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Construction Law - Case Study Example Partnering 1 means a relationship of open communication and close cooperation that involves both Government and Contractor personnel working together for the purpose of establishing a mutually beneficial, proactive, cooperative environment, alliances to contractual partnerships within which to achieve contract objectives and resolve issues and implementing actions as required. Partnering, as I define it, is the process of two or more entities coming together for the purpose of creating synergistic solutions to their mutual challenges. The Construction industry including both private and public sector clients, main contractors, consultants and specialists. The collective spend of the client members runs into billions of pounds and it constitutes the most influential pan-industry body in the construction industry. The building of a Partnering relationship is not straightforward and it is essential that sufficient time and resource is allocated in order to achieve the desired result. Effective relationships are the bedrock of Partnering and the Project culture needs to be one of full openness, honesty and trust in all dealings between the parties. .. The contract has been drafted as a purchase Order with separate Collaborate Construction terms. The former is only six pages long with additional appendices and is completed to fit the requirements of the particular project. In order to achieve a successful Partnering relationship all parties need to adopt a far greater degree of collaboration than would be found in conventional contracting. Partnering requires commitment throughout the business units and its suppliers and is not an easy option. Proactive attitudes and contributions will be required on Partnering from Project Initiation in order to obtain improved performance and shared benefits. The collaboration construction terms comprise some 18 pages and should not change, although some of the provisions may not apply, depending upon how the purchase Order has been completed. The contract is unique in that it can be used for the appointment of both consultants and contractors as a subcontract for appointment of sub consultants or subcontractors. There are already a growing body of evidence that lawyers are providing a different role from that of traditional 'legal technicians' and 'dispute adviser' in favour of movements towards 'assisting the delivery of successful projects'. Lawyers can genuinely 'add value' by explaining how a collaborative relationship can work within a supportive contraction framework. One simple step forward is for lawyers to at least explain the proposed form of construction contract (be it a partnering contract or otherwise) to the project team who will work under or in conjection with it. It is assumed that all parties fully understand what their legal obligations are and how their contract is indented to fit in with

Friday, August 23, 2019

International Management - Global business Essay

International Management - Global business - Essay Example Multinational companies willing to expand their operation in overseas have to face quite few challenges like regulatory environment of the host country, culture and so forth. In general, the advent of the modern Multinational companies was largely because of the fast industrialization in the western society. The industrial revolution accelerated new technologies of production and distribution that necessitated larger operations than firms had managed before. Conversely, mass production technologies demanded a constant and dependable stream of input, and the pursuit for new economical long term sources of materials and supplies was the incentive that drove many companies in the foreign countries.1 In fact, firms choose to operate in different countries of the world for a good many reasons, as an example, to reap the benefit of economies of scale, cheap labor cost etc. We can see today that extensive number of companies like Coca Cola, Volvo etc. are operating in different parts of the globe. In this paper, the author attempts to shed light on the activities of the multinational companies in relation to various international production theories. Companies want to expand their business base aboard for mainly "efficiency seeking" and "strategic asset seeking" reasons. ... intended to capture the benefits of disparity in the availability and cost of traditional factor endowments in different countries of the world 2) the second sort is that which takes place in those countries which have largely comparable economic structures and income levels and is intended to reap the benefits of the economies of scale and scope, and of distinction in consumer tastes and supply capabilities. For instance, many U. S. companies transferring production to lower-cost Mexico and then exporting finished products back to the USA. An example of the second is American investment in European countries. Europe's stable move toward economic integration over the preceding years has given U. S. firms bigger opportunities and scope for attaining increased efficiencies and rationalization. Among all the purposes for foreign direct investment over the 1990s, strategic asset seeking was amongst the most significant. The aim of the strategic asset seeker is to increase company's prevailing portfolio of assets in such a way that strengthens the firm's existing competitive advantage. Examples of strategic asset seeking investment include Ford's acquisition of Volvo of Sweden and Jaguar of the United Kingdom, and Land Rover from BMW in early 2000, three acquisitions that helped boost the Ford's product niche in the luxury automobile market.2 Global business is now driven by in excess of 60,000 multinational enterprises (MNEs) with over 800,000 subsidiaries in foreign countries. The world's top 100 non-financial MNEs are the main drivers of global production. Their foreign assets amounted to $2 trillion in 2000, with over 6 million employees across the world. They focus mostly in electronics and electrical equipment, automobiles, petroleum, chemicals, and

Finance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Finance - Assignment Example Sainsburys is second in terms of market share, ASDA is third and Morrisons is fourth (with 11.8), according to Reuters Finance. But when we look into market share increase over the past two years we find that Tesco’s profit margin in 2011 was 8.47% and decreased to 8.15% in 2012 perhaps reflecting the overall decline in retail profits due to the weakened economy. It is important to note though that Tesco was still operating with a profit margin of over 8%. When comparing this to Morrisons, who experienced an slightly decrease from 6.9% in 2011 to 6.89%, even though this was only a slight decrease it was still operating on a loss for both the years. The inability to change the profitability of the business has meant a decline in the share price of 13% and as a result ordinary shareholders would be put off investing the this business. ROE The Return on equity (ROE) is defined as the net income that is returned to the shareholder as a percentage of the shareholder’s fund. ROE of a company actually measures the profit that the company generates from the shareholders money (Warren, 2009). Thus, change in ROE of both the companies is compared to see which company is favourable for the investor to invest in, so that he will receive a higher ROE. From the analysis, it is seen that the ROE of Tesco Plc has decreased by 0.25% in 2012 as compared to 2011. It indicates that the shareholders have received fewer amounts as return in 2012 by losing a part of their investment. Comparing the ROE of Morrison, it is found that there has been 1.12% increase in 2012 from 2011. It indicates that if investment is made in Morrison’s share then an investor will be getting greater return in 2012. But if both the companies ROE is compared, then it can be stated that the shares of Tesco Plc are worth investing than Morrison’s, since it gives higher ROE (White, Sondhi and Fied, 2003). EPS Earnings per share are defined as the portion of profit of the company tha t is allocated to the shareholder. It actually indicates the profitability of the company. The Earning per Share (EPS) of Tesco Plc has increased in 2012 from 2011 by 0.01. The EPS of Morrison shows an increase in 2012 from 2011 by 0.20, but if EPS of both the companies are compared, then it is found that Tesco Plc is giving a higher earning than Morrison (Lucy, 2003). The EPS of both the companies can be compared because both are from the retail industry. Dividend per share Dividend per share (DPS) can be defined as the total dividends that are paid out over an entire period of time to the shareholders divided by number of the shares that are issued by the company. The dividend per share of Tesco Plc 14.7 p in 2012 is higher than that of Morrison 11.6 p. Thus it can be said that the customers of Tesco Plc. will be getting more as dividend if they invest in Tesco Plc. The change in dividend per share of Tesco Plc is negligible, 1.2 p, as compared to Morrison which is 3.3 p in 2012. The DPS of both companies can be compared since they belong to the same retail industry. Dividend payout ratio The dividend payout ratio is the percentage of the earning of the company that is paid to the shareholde

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Assessment and Development Essay Example for Free

Assessment and Development Essay 1. What is a competency? What are its characteristics? How is it different from Job Description? Competency: Competencies refer to skills or knowledge that leads to superior performance. These are formed through an individual/organization’s knowledge, skills and abilities and provide a framework for distinguishing between poor performances through to exceptional performance. Competencies can apply at organizational, individual, team, and occupational and functional levels. Competencies are individual abilities or characteristics that are key to effectiveness in work. Some examples of competencies required by the employees are: 1. Adaptability 2. Commitment 3. Creativity 4. Motivation 5. Foresight 6. Leadership 7. Independence 8. Emotional Stability 9. Analytical Reasoning and 10. Communication Skills Characteristics of Competencies ? ? ? ? ? ? Competencies are the characteristics of a manager that lead to the demonstration of skills and abilities, which result in effective performance within an organizational area. The best way to understand performance is to observe what people actually do to be successful rather than relying on assumptions pertaining to trait and intelligence. The best way to measure and predict performance is to assess whether people have key competencies. Competencies can be learnt and developed. They should be made visible/accessible. They should be linked to meaningful life outcomes that describe how people should perform in the real world 3|P a ge Common difference Competencies Job Description. Competencies †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Underlying characteristic of a person’s inputs. Clusters of knowledge, attitudes and skills. Generic knowledge motive, trait, social role or a skill. Personal characteristics. Set of skills, related knowledge and attributes. On the other hand, Job Description †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Superior performance in a given job, role or a situation. Individual’s ability to perform. Linked to superior performance on the job. Contribute to effective managerial performance. Successfully perform a task or an activity within a specific function or job. 4|P a ge 2. What are the different types of competencies? What is their relevance? 1. Behavioral Competency: Behaviors, knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics that contribute to individual success in the organization ? ? ? Can apply to all (or most) jobs in an organization or be specific to a job family, career level or position For example:- teamwork and cooperation, communication Focus on the person 2. Technical or functional Competency: Specific knowledge and skills needed to be able to perform one’s job effectively ? ? ? Job specific and relate to success in a given job or job family For example:- knowledge of accounting principles, knowledge of human resource law and practice Focus on the job A trainer requires a different set of competencies than an accountant, and a teller requires a different set than a maintenance worker. If there are different levels within the same position, then each job level might also have its own set of vertically derived competencies 3. Core Competency: ? ? A core competency is defined as an internal capability that is critical to the success of business. These are organizational competencies that all individuals are expected to possess. These competencies define what the organization values the most in people. For example:- an organization might want each individual to possess teamwork, flexibility and communication skills. 5|P a ge 4. Threshold competency: ? ? The characteristics required by a jobholder to perform a job effectively are called threshold competencies. For the position of a typist it is necessary to have primary knowledge about typing, which is a threshold competency. 5. Differentiating competency: ? ? The characteristics, which differentiate superior performers from average performers, come under this category; such characteristics are not found in average performers. Knowledge of formatting is a competency that makes a typist to superior to others in performance, which is a differentiating competency. 6|P a ge 3. What is the difference between Assessment Centre and Development Centre? Differences between Assessment and Development centers Assessment centers usually ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Have a pass/fail criteria are geared towards filing a job vacancy address an immediate organizational need have fewer assessors and more participants involve line managers as assessors have less emphasis placed on self-assessment focus on what the candidate can do now are geared to meet the needs of the organization assign the role of judge to assessors place emphasis on selection with little or no developmental feedback and follow up give feedback at a later date involve the organization having control over the information obtained have very little pre-centre briefing tend to be used with external candidates. Development centers usually ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? do not have a pass/fail criteria are geared towards developing the individual address a longer term need have a 1:1 ratio of assessor to participant do not have line managers as assessors have a greater emphasis placed on self-assessment focus on potential are geared to meet needs of the individual as well as the organization assign the role of facilitator to assessors place emphasis on developmental feedback and follow up with little or no selection function 7|P a ge ? ? ? ? give feedback immediately involve the individual having control over the information obtained have a substantial pre-centre briefing tend to be used with internal candidates 8|P a ge 4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Assessment Centre and Development Centre? Assessment Centers: Assessment centers consist of a number of exercises designed to assess the full range of skills and personal attributes required for the job. Advantages: ? Assessment centers map the next level challenges and simulate them in exercises. This raises the validity of the assessment tool. The old way of evaluating the person based on past performance does not work many times, as the challenges of the next level are different from the challenges in the existing position. Assessment centers not only help the organization in placing the right candidate for the right job/assignment but also help in developing the participants. When participants see others handling the same exercise differently, it gives them an insight into their own performance thereby raises the credibility of the selection procedure. It appeals to the lay person’s logic and therefore is regarded as a fair means of assessment by the participants. Assessment Centers can be customized for different kinds of jobs, competencies and organizational requirements. They are far more accurate than a standard recruitment process as they allow a broader range of selection methods to be used during the process. They enable interviewers to assess existing performance as well as predict future job performance. They give the opportunity to assess and differentiate between candidates who seem very similar in terms of quality on paper. They give the candidates a better insight into the role as they are tested on exercises, which are typical for the role they have applied for. They help employers build an employer brand. Candidates who attend assessment centers which genuinely reflect the job and the organization are often impressed by that company, even if they are rejected. The cost of an assessment centre is usually cheaper compared with the potential cost of many recruitment phases and the cost of recruitment errors. 9|P a ge ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? They are a fair process – they complement an organization’s diversity agenda and ensure that people are selected on the basis of merit alone. Disadvantages: ? ? ? ? ? Assessment Centers are very costly and time consuming. Assessment Centers requires highly skilled observers as the observers may bring in their own perceptions and biases while evaluating. Those who receive poor assessment might become de-motivated and might lose confidence in their abilities. New recruits with high expectations can feel disappointed if the assessment centre has encouraged them to believe the job or organization fits their values if, in fact, it does not. If you haven’t defined the key competencies prior to the event and a way to measure these competencies you will only be able to compare candidates on anecdotal details.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Effects Of Globalisation The Algerian Case Media Essay

Effects Of Globalisation The Algerian Case Media Essay Globalisation is a phenomenon which describes the integration of regional and international communities through societies, economies and culture as an ongoing process through global networks of trade and communication. It is driven by various combined factors which include biological, technological, political and socio-cultural factors. Globalisation promotes circulation of languages, acculturation and ideas in the different countries. Culture has its own qualities but can be dynamic. Humans are all different and have different characters in their different societies. Culture is learned and through absorption from the social environment. It is never static and is always transforming. Culture is an incessant process that is gradual to change and influence. It does not change abruptly or suddenly, but a process which gives a community a sense of continuity, identity, security, dignity and keeps the society together. The effect of globalisation on culture has been diverse and immense. P eoples cultural behaviours have been affected in various ways. Globalisation demands countries to pursue common economic policies regardless of their development or economic nature. It in addition demands that countries open up of their boundaries to trans-national corporations in an indiscriminate manner. This has been the major gateway for globalisation affecting many nations in broad ways especially developing countries. Classic examples include India in Asia and the African continent. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of globalisation in developing countries focusing on Algeria, perception and the measures or programs employed by these countries to protect their national culture from the effects of globalisation. Culture is the identity of countries and communities and it is being continuously threatened by globalisation. Furthermore, this research is expected to be expanding on the issue of globalisation from exclusively economic definitions to more of h umanistic cultural approaches to globalisation. INTRODUCTION: George Bernard SHAW is known for saying Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. Globalisation spread will definitely carry changes to the parts of world it attains. Does it mean that traditional norms and values will be abolished? Definitely not, but change is an indispensable ingredient of life. Todays communication and new technologies such as new global media (Internet amongst others), have demonstrated an influential means of projecting long-established culture. The fact that US cultural merchandises are unbeaten reflects that American cultural exports are influential and strong. It also reflects that the US economy is successful all over the world. Generally speaking globalisation, which has greatly affected local culture, does mean some integration of culture. The positive aspects are that there is a widen information, cultural exchange and all this can lead to a worldwide cultural growth. However, there is also another aspect of global culture: a lot of people see globalisation of culture as a new way of a cultural Americanisation. A report emanated from the UNESCO in 2005 showed that the worlds cultural trade has been estimated at 1.3 trillion dollars and is rapidly expanding. According to the report, international trade in cultural products increased from 38 billion Dollars in 1994 to attain 60 billions Dollars in 2002. The report examines cross-border trade on selected media products. In the only year of 2002 United States, China and the United Kingdom, produced 40 % of the worlds cultural trade products in 2002, while Africa and Latin America together produced for less than 4 %. (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2010) Anglo-Saxons products were overriding at the core of the entertainment industry (music, film and television). Because rules of the WTO (World Trade Organization) do not allow countries which ban cultural imports, one of the globalisation effects will be the end of cultural diversity. We are driving towards a world in which the verb to have is becoming by far more important that the verb to be. (Akulenko, 2008) According to Scholte this point of view stresses that: Globalisation introduces a single world culture centred on consumerism, mass media, Americana and the English language. (Scholte, 2000, p 53) In addition of being helpful for businesses and technologies globalisation has greatly impacted the world by helping cultures spread all over the globe. While this can be thought as a reality, there still remains difference of opinion about whether cultural globalisation will be advantageous for everyone. According to Bhargava, (2003), some people consider that globalisation will boost the opportunity for the great nations to take advantage of the economic weaknesses of the developing countries as well as to reduce the cultural diversity and make it a global-culture, while some others argue that it does have the possibility to create opportunities for growth all over the world. However, there are people who say that globalisation is anything else but the westernisation of the world. Some are afraid to lose their values or that their language disappears and they feel threatened by the influence exerted by other cultures in their country. Even though some people consider that this phen omenon may be dangerous for their culture, some others perceived globalisation as an amazing opportunity rather than a threat. Although we are not attentive to it, globalisation which is a very fascinating event, had affected everyones existence. From the Chinese sewing needle to the Brazilian coffee, we are encircled by merchandise from all over the world. Thus, it is definitely an issue which concerned everyone. For that, it must have an effect on the way people think, on their norms and values, and accordingly on their Cultural Identity which I am going to look at. Taking into account such a fascinating event, I would be interested to find out if this phenomenon had an impact on national culture and whether this fundamental value must be protected from globalisation effects. I will propose to investigate the effects of globalisation on developing countries and whether this influence is harmless or damaging national culture. In addition to that, my project will focus on why some Multinational Corporations find it difficult to invest in Arabic countries markets especially Islamic ones. Multinational Corporations which want to invest in foreign countries must learn a lot from Schein (1992) who emphasises the importance to carry out a cultural analysis in order to implement a successful and effective management which can transcend the national and ethnic borders. He also argues that this analysis represents a key factor of success for the leaders. RESEARCH QUESTION: The main research question is Does the national culture have to be protected from the effects of globalisation? A focus on Algeria, to ensure that the research question is fully-covered the sub questions below will be used: Are Algerians (or Muslims) obliged to abandon their traditions and dump their cultural values, norms beliefs to take part in the cultural globalisation? Is the relation between cultural globalisation and westernization strong enough and permanently established so that everyone have to accept western cultural invasion if they want to flourish? Is it possible for Arabs Muslims to protect their cultural identity in the rise of too much American culture influence? Is cultural globalisation a means of hegemony of the western over the developing countries and their cultural values? Can globalisation be seen as positive or negative for the Developing countries Culture traditions? RESEARCH ISSUE: In the Western World, Globalisation is often seen as having only positive effects on the national culture of developing countries. However, after analysis these benefits brought to countries of the third world have been frequently reconsidered. Therefore our intention is to focus on how Algerian cultural identity has been affected by colonisation first and then globalisation. We will look at both how globalisation has impacted Algerian cultural life? why the young generation have dumped their traditions, left their norms and beliefs and given up their social values? RESEARCH PURPOSE: The purpose of our research is to accomplish a study through which we will show that globalisation has had both positive negative effects on culture but only negative impacts on Arabic/Islamic culture. This papers objective is to highlight the nature of the clash between Algerian Islamic identity and cultural globalisation, a Western concept in its nature, and heavily sponsored by Western ideologists and politicians as being the New World Order. LIMITATION: While culture and globalisation are two different fields of study in their own, this paper attempts to show the connections between them, the effects of globalisation on culture and whether globalisation affects national culture positively, negatively or not at all. However, this is a less-travelled path, and to be sure, the quantity of books published on the only link between them is quite modest. METHODOLOGY: The focal point of this chapter will be on elucidating the general approaches of the research, data collection and data analysis. This will be followed by explaining the methods chosen as well as critical evaluation of resources the research method limitation. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH (Research Approach): The success of any study is determined by the nature of approaches that are adopted in the research. The research approach used in all studies is mainly guided by the nature of the issue and set hypotheses. Globalisation is an ongoing process for which secondary data will be the main sources used in the study. The rationale in the consideration of this design is therefore availability of data. DATA COLLECTION: Data collection will play a significant role to guarantee the exactness of the gathered information related to the subject. With the aid of the broad search interface offered by electronic databases, researcher will look for articles in the area of the research using the title of the thesis as being the key words. Another central consideration is that the sources used to collect data should all be recent and must have complete referencing details. RESEARCH DESIGN: Once the research objectives and questions have been determined the next issue I will face involves deciding which source of information will answer these questions. Data, or source, is referred to as either secondary or primary. According to Kolbs Marketing Research for Non-Profit, Community and Creative Organizations (2008), Bryman Bell (2007), Swanson Holton (1997) in Human Resource Development Research Handbook: Linking Research Practice and Andersons Research Methods in HRM (2004), data can be collected from two different ways, primary and secondary data. While primary data is all about information that is collected directly from research contributors, the other source of data, which is the result of research conducted previously, is secondary data. Information of secondary data has already been gathered through either qualitative or quantitative studies by other individuals, companies/organizations or government departments. Qualitative secondary data is also obtainable through different sources such as textbooks, articles, journals and online sources such as websites and blogs. There are some disadvantages using qualitative secondary data. Firstly, the data were not initially designed and collected to answer my specific research questions, thus its answers may not exactly fit my research questions. Secondly, I may have less control over how the data were collected. And finally there may be biases in the data that I dont know about. However, since the data are already collected, and frequently cleaned, using such a data is very beneficial because it includes lowering the costs of the research, finding information which helps in the design of the research methodology and savings of time. The secondary data can be reached rapidly and usually of extremely high quality. Another major advantage of using secondary data is the breadth of availability of data. Therefore, my methodology for this dissertation is going to be using qualitative secondary data through Annotated Literature Review. Within this annotated literature review I wont be merely summarizing the source but assessing and reflecting by asking how the source would fit into my research as well. During the last 2 months, I have been reading a large number of articles, journals, selecting documents obtainable online and textbooks each of which related to my subject. Academic websites like Emerald, InderScience Publishers, Sage, CIPD, Genamics Journal Seek, Athens, Mintel, JSTOR, Oxford Journals, Academic One File and Science Direct, which give further information, will be used to collect secondary data. To analyse the impact of globalisation on Algerian culture inductive approach is chosen because it is based on todays study and results from present analysis. Through my approach I will try to find common definitions of both globalisation and culture and the link between them in order to enable me to design hypotheses, which I can then look at and develop some general conclusions by interpreting them. My research will be essentially qualitative since I will try to progress in the reflection on whether the national culture must be protected against the globalisation. DATA ANALYSIS: Analysing the collected data is very essential for arriving at any conclusion. For the qualitative data analysis I will be using constant comparison/grounded theory technique. Coding in qualitative data analysis will be in constant state of potential revision and fluidity (Bryman Bell, 2007, p: 586). These will give best result and proof for my research. To achieve the final aim of my project, focus will be on the secondary sources of information and collection of data will be from some of the abundance online sources as well as printed documents. These sources of information will be in diverse forms such as journals, publications, press reports, books and annual reports of Algerian companies. Internet is a valuable source, it will help the researcher to have up to date information on globalisation and its effect on developing countries. In order to give a better perception to my research and to improve the exactness of my judgment, my methodology of collecting data will be using secondary data collection. Due to differences between national cultures as well as different perceptions of globalisation and its effect on culture among schools of thought, the sample for this study will be difficult to find. Since my research is essentially more qualitative, the specific hypothesis about effects of globalisation on national culture that I have in mind can change as the research progress because qualitative research brings in depth analysis to an argument based on individual case studies. CRITICAL EVALUATION OF RESOURCES: As it is mentioned above my research will be exclusively secondary data-based which can be considered as a limitation in its nature. Regarding electronic sources such as internet, because of their great abundance and their different purposes dedications it is easier said than done to judge their validity. LIMITATION: According to Bryman Bell (2007), there are some disadvantages using qualitative secondary data. Firstly, the data were not initially designed and collected to answer my specific research questions and researcher is less flexible for designing data collection in a way that is extremely related to the subject. Secondly, I may have less control over how the data were collected. And finally there may be biases in the data that I dont know about.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Political Communication Of India

The Political Communication Of India In the early years of Indian Independence political communication was considered to be addressing peaceful rallies and dropping election pamphlets from a plane to persuade the Indian Voter. The post liberalization has already seen three paradigm shifts, Firstly the Nehruvian Socialism in the 1960s, then the hard lined discipline of Indira Gandhi and economic freedom in the 1990s. the liberalization of the Indian economy has changed the way of communication ranging from cable television to telecommunication and then bringing on to the online platform. Earlier the communication during elections used to take place in rallies and depended a lot on politicians interpersonal skills. But the political parties are soon realizing the importance of this Digital Era to connect with the youth of the country. The Political parties know that the youth are going in the transformation from Digital Migrants to Digital Natives. They are present with their true identities on the Digital platform. This requires the political parties of India to adopt methods which have been never adopted before. In the recently hard fought Lok Sabha Elections of 2009, all major political parties of India had hired Ad and Media Agencies to manage their Brand Image. Understanding Political Communication Political communication is a sub-field of political science and communication that deals with the production, dissemination, procession and effects of information, both through media and interpersonally, within a political context. This includes all usage of Media, speeches by politicians, Opinion leaders in the community to influence the decision process and it also includes the formal and informal discussions in the general public. The Study of Political Communication revolves around 3 basic elements. The Political Party The Voter The Medium of communication The Political Party As per the Ace Electoral Network, A political party is defined as an organised group of people with at least roughly similar political aims and opinions, that seeks to influence public policy by getting its candidates elected to public office. Political parties perform key tasks in a democratic society, such as Aggregating and articulating needs and problems as identified by members and supporters Socialising and educating voters and citizens in the functioning of the political and electoral system and the generation of general political values Balancing opposing demands and converting them into general policies Activating and mobilising citizens into participating in political decisions and transforming their opinions into viable policy options Channelling public opinion from citizens to government To perform these above mentioned key tasks, the political party should be able to communicate their objective clearly to their Voters. With the increase in the number of mediums a party can use to communicate with their voter, a consistency in the communication objective should be must. Communication objective is derived from the Brand Proposition the party wants to display to the general public. Harrop (1990) perceives political marketing as being not just about political advertising, party political broadcasts and electoral speeches but covering the whole area of party positioning in the electoral market. Maarek (1995) conceptualises political marketing as a complex process, the outcome of a more global effort implicating all the factors of the politicians political communication. Maarek explained the Difference between commercial marketing and political marketing. Figure 1: Commercial and Political Marketing, two parallel strategies. In the above figure Maarek tries to point out the difference between Commercial Marketing and Political Marketing. Such a parallel cannot be drawn, as a partys product consists not of its political communications but of: a) Its ideological platform and its set of policy proposals. b) The party leader, the candidates and party officials. In Maareks view, political marketing has become an integral and vital component of political communication. In his words: Political communicationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦encompasses the entire marketing process, from preliminary market study to testing and targeting. The Voter The aim of any type of communication is to convince the receiver. All marketers try to convince their customers about the product. Here the marketer is the political party and the customer is the voter. But there are certain differences between mainstream marketing and political marketing with respect to the voter. Lock and Harris (1996) identify four main differences between mainstream and political marketing: All voters vote on the same day, everyone makes choice as per their own methods or requirements There is no cost attached to casting a mandate for a particular party, therefore no cost when considered from an individual point of view but a very huge cost from a societys point of view. Even though you must have voted for a particular party, even though its not elected ,you will have to live with it. There is no choice to vote for a political party or the candidate, basically the service given is unbundled. The candidate and the political party both are generally taken into consideration while making the choice. The main role of PR activities is to improve the perception of the political party or the candidate. Today political parties are involved highly in PR activities during elections; the Bhartiya Janata Party had the India Shining campaign in 2004 which triggered a new PR era in Indian Politics. The Congress party ran the Secular campaign successfully in 2009. No political party has left any stone unturned in the field of PR, whether it is print or television or even digital. The Indian Voter today is exposed to a minimum of three different kinds of medium in a day, it is important to reach out to this person when its most effective. It is very difficult to improve the perception of the candidate or the party in a short term; it requires a long term perspective with a consistent proposition to the voter. The Medium The early beginnings of democratic thought in the eighteenth century, political philosophers have recognized the crucial role of un-inhibited public debate and free speech, which was later, extended to the demand for a free press (Voltmer, 2007)The notion of a marketplace of ideas is based on the liberal belief that no single agency be allowed to have the last say on the course of politics. Rather, it is through public exchange of argument and counter-argument that the truth eventually emerges (Mill 1859, reprinted 1974). From the perspective of the marketplace of ideas argument, the media are usually assigned a more passive role, serving as a forum where a variety of groups and individuals are given the opportunity to express their views. Arguably the mass media serve as the main link between governments, political parties, candidates, etc. and voters, as the opportunities for direct communication between citizens and their representatives are extremely limited both in terms of the scale of the audience reached and the scope of the issues covered. However, the media are not just channels conveying the messages politicians want them to communicate to voters. They are also active participants in the creation of political messages (Cook 1998). In a democracy like India, The medium of communication is the single most important factor through which political parties reach out to the people. Political Speeches, coverage, events are all part of the medium of communication. Even hate speeches, rally by political parties only make sense if they are reported by the print or the television medium. In the print there are articles that report the unfolding of different events through the day, the television has live screening of interviews and events. As film stars became popular figures in Indian politics, movies became an important medium of political communication. This all is the part of the medium through which political marketing talks place. Today the digital medium is yet another medium which cannot be ignored by any political party. Blogs, Social media, websites, email, viral marketing and websites itself has brought about a paradigm shift in ways political parties could present itself to the voter. The print and television mediums are generally active only during election campaigns but the digital medium is generally active all through the year. The Digital Medium: The Game Changer Not so long ago, Television and Print were the mainstays of most marketers media plans with radio and outdoor and a few other things filling in the gaps where appropriate. Even with the emergence of the internet in the late nineties television commercials were heavily favored by the dotcoms as the way to build their brands. The internet is now over a decade, its certainly isnt new .In fact, any product that advertised itself as new ten years on would be laughed at or even sued by the authorities . Today Digital channels are mass and mainstream reaching global audiences. For example in some markets, a popular website can reach a staggering part of the population. Its not just the big portals or social networking sites that command large audiences. Perez Hilton, the web king reaches an estimated 5 million people daily via the blog. (David Meerman ,2004) While digital channels are now mass, they can also be extremely targeted allowing for singular interactions with consumers. This is one of the defining benefits of new media. Marketing through the digital platform can be extremely personalized in many ways. Personal Emails or SMSes might be tailor made to suit every individual needs. They can be content differentiation also, as different mailers could be sent to different individuals based on their likes and dislikes. New Media are essentially social. Everything in digital format can be easily replied to by everyone. The best part of digital medium, that it can be viral. Any exciting piece of communication through the digital medium can be easily replicated and produced in the same form. There are basically two types of Digital Marketing. The first one is the pull strategy and the second is the push strategy. The pull strategy basically consists of attracting consumers/visitors to a particular website or a blog or even watching a video (youtube). Here the initiative is on the consumer to visit the particular digital platform. The pull strategy requires a substantial marketing budget as the numbers of competitors are more. Also the pull strategy does not allow you to be personalized to the user, as the same content is viewed by all viewers. The push strategy basically consists of sending emails and SMSes to the target audiences. The push strategy could be extremely personalized, for example a polit ical party could send in different SMSes to people of a region affected by floods and a different message to people affected by Naxal issues. Use of Internet as a Political Communication Tool The internet is a perfect example of customer centricity in political communication. The internet acts as a one stop platform for people to interact with politicians, discuss their problems. The primary problem in India was that people were finding it tough to connect with politicians except during elections when politicians wanted their mandate. The internet as a platform itself can act as a connection tool for the people with the politicians. But internet is not utilized to its true potential; internet is often seen as a tool to spread awareness about a politician or a political party. (David Meerman ,2004) Before the internet platform emerged, it was believed that the people would go to the administration for help or issues, but the internet could give way to a system which would bring the government and political parties to the people. The focus of the internet could be to generate efficiency in the system which will indirectly benefit the government. But the important thing with the internet is that the tool works best when the consumer uses it for a dialogue and not a monologue. Online tools There are a variety of tools available today for use of political communication. These tools are generally used by the people for entertainment or networking purposes. These tools can consist of blogs, social networking sites, news sites, video streaming and group sites. These tools can be used by have great political applicability. These tools can be used to generate public attention and also to act as points of salience. The internet is generally open systems and are accessible all public. The internet today has no dependency on computers as the internet can be accessed through mobiles. Every tool present on the web today has a specific use and can be used to target niche audiences. Importance of youth in elections The analysts believe that the segment of youth would be the most critical in the forthcoming elections. Unfortunately this segment has registered a dismal participation in the elections upto this point. This segment of youth is identified as being rationale and will be having the capability of taking decisions. This segment can easily identify the right and wrong between things, they understand the importance to cast votes in elections too; the only thing that is lacking is a platform to connect with this target audience. The political parties today should be involved in giving out communication messages which are more relevant in times of today. The youth of today feel that they are disconnected with politics just because of the lack of use of appropriate communication tools by the political parties. That is why it is very important to understand the consumption of messages by this segment. Understanding the Psyche of the Indian youth in Elections The Indian youth is one of the largest segments of the Indian Society; they surpass any other segments present in the Indian Voting Canvas. In the recent Lok Sabha elections of 2009, the voting percentage among the youth was an abysmal 20%. The influencers in the case of youth are their parents, if the parents decide to cast their vote then the youth generally follow them otherwise they dont cast their vote. Most of the youth today does not find it intriguing enough to talk about politics, the trend is slowly changing but it is still an urban phenomenon. Most of the youth today look at the Election Day as a holiday; they generally plan out long weekend holidays on account of election days. The youth of today believe in the saying Be the change, they volunteer to NGOs and help other organization, they firmly deem that rather than relying on politicians or political parties, they themselves take the onus of changing the landscape of this country. Generally Youth does not cast their vote on the pretext of saying that their vote does not make a difference. The youth of today in the range of 20- 25 years, have seen all the major political parties at the centre (1996 2009), so the feeling of nothing changing in the Indian Landscape is pretty evident. The youth also believe in the fact that they have never been asked to vote. When researched this led to the vicious cycle phenomenon in Indian Politics, the Indian urban segment and youth are the two segments which generally registers the lowest amount of voting percentages. This is the primary reason why politicians and political parties pay very less or no attention to them. Due to no attention to them the youth do not get any personalized or communication that makes relevance to their life during election days. Many youth of today feel that the process of casting votes is a tedious one, as one never know how to register and when and where to vote. Before the Jaago re campaign, th ere was no particular online platform which educated the youth about the process of casting votes. Need and Rationale for the Study Changing voter profile of the country The voter profile of this country is fast changing, the faster the political parties adopt the change, better will be the results for the political party in the Long run. Media fragmented As the media of today is getting more and more fragmented, the traditional means of reaching the voter might not work, and innovative means of reaching the same voter might be needed. Americanization of Politics in India Learning from the recently concluded Americas Presidential elections, the use of social media had been used exhaustively along with other online tools. This can pave the way of the changing political propaganda as it takes place today Research Design Literature Review Knowledge and Learnings Content Analysis of Websites Conclusion/ Recommendation Learnings Expert Interviews Research Objectives Following are the research objectives: To analyze and compare the websites of different political parties and understand their offering in the digital medium To analyze the different promotional activities done by political parties on the digital platform. Research Methodology Information gathered through data published, websites, reports. The books and articles for reference would be sourced from the KEIC library of Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad In -Depth interviews would be conducted with professionals from the digital marketing industry and the people responsible for PR of political parties. Content Analysis of Websites would be done of the websites of the major political parties of India The content analysis of websites will be done on several labels like Information on the website, Informing the people, engagement with people, appeal to people , media releases given on the website and transparency achieved by the website Content Analysis in general is conducted in several discrete stages. Although the following stages are given in sequence, they need not be followed in the same order. Formulate the research question : Analyzing and comparing websites of different political parties in India ( Four national parties are taken in the consideration set) Define the population in question: The population would be all the data that is available on the internet about these political parties. Select an appropriate sample from the population: The sample for population would be the websites of these parties. (Official websites) Select and define a unit of analysis: The unit of analysis would be the pages on the website. Each page would be analysed from the website. The units would be : Information of the web site Interaction with People Appeal to the people Service to the people Media Coverage and Public Relations Transparency Sampling A panel of experts from the digital marketing industry would be chosen with their political knowledge in mind. For selecting the panel snowball sampling would be used The sample for selection of websites would be of the four national political parties of India Research Questions Some sample questions which would be asked to the panel of experts would be as follows How important do you feel is the online platform in todays age for political parties? Describe what is the appropriate time for political parties to use the online platform? Where is the online platform best likely to fit in the entire process of political propaganda? Could you tell us some campaigns which u liked/disliked by political parties? What would be the extent of use of online platform in political campaigns, five years down the line? Limitations Confidential information would be withheld as the topic of research is sensitive subject which is politics Data Collection The data collection was done in two phases for the Four National Parties of India. This was decided by the number of seats won by each of these parties in the recently concluded General Elections. The initial data was collected on January 5 January 7 2010. This data was recorded in an Excel sheet based on the selected variables. After this interviews were taken with the Media / PR heads o the respective political parties. This helped me in cross checking and validating their claims about the website and also to help me fill in gaps during my initial collection. Also a link analysis was done to check the traffic for these websites during the election period, as these links are more active during election periods. Data and Analysis The research would be done on the following websites: National Party Website URL Indian National Congress (INC) http://www.congress.org.in/ http://www.congress4india.com/ Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) http://www.bjp.org/ http://www.bjpindia.in/ Samajwadi Party (SP) http://www.samajwadipartyindia.com/ http://www.spmumbai.org/index.aspx Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) http://bspindia.org/ http://www.bahujansamajparty.net/ The Research was done on two websites of each political party. The first data collection was carried out on January 5 January 7 2010 and the second data collection was done between February 5 February 7 2010. The purpose was to find if the websites were updated. In all cases however the content was not changed. Findings of the Research The political parties have yet not realized the importance of the updates of the websites. They did not update the sites on a day to day basis, although it is technologically possible to update the contents in real time today. The sites of the Indian National Congress and the Bhartiya Janata Party are more updated than the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. There are more than 32 features on the INC website put together compared to 29 of the BJP party. The Samajwadi party and BSP havent updated their sites since a very long time; they have far less features than compared to the counterparts. The better contents and updates in the BJP site could be attributed to the experience of the BJP elections n 20004. New Media including internet was used extensively during the elections of 2004. BJP has hired a New Media agency for handling only their New Media campaigns in 2009. INC lagged behind in the use of internet during the elections so far and appeared to have attempted to catch up with the BJP. BJP has sites for all the states of India; these are for the local communication in the state. BJP had the India Shining campaign as the theme in which the party had extensively used New Media. Language of the Content of Website Maharashtra state has the local language called Marathi and Gujarat has Gujarati. There are 71, 936,894 (6.99% of the total population) Marathi Speaking people in India where as 46,091,617 (4.48% of total population) people of India speak Gujarati. This is against 90,000,000 (10.66% of total population) in India. Yet the parties have totally neglected the regional language. No one has given regional font for download. Campaign Strategists bank heavily on the local language to write text for bills, posters, billboards, and advertisements etc. Hence logically they should write contents of the sites in local languages to reach majority voters. However this study revealed that the sites depended only on English. None of the all the eight websites of political parties in Maharashtra and Gujarat had site analytics , date of the last update of the website and site map. The date for last updating is necessary in some situations. For Example political parties announce their candidates for elections in two three phases or more. They announce various lists and it changes even after announcements. If the date of last updating is given, the visitors of site can easily come to know whether it is an odd list or the latest one. This happens with other types of content too. Site Map is a feature that helps the user to easily locate the needed information on that site. They also act as a navigation aid by providing an overview of sites content at a single glance. If the number of links is very large, the site map helps visitors to access all content on the site. Webmaster: Details of the webmaster (email, phone or fax) are necessary because a visitor can write to him/her in case the site or part of it does not function. All sites had Telephone number to only the head quarters and no region wise contacts. All sites had given the indication of a copyright. This prohibited others from using the website content for free. Visitors counter is another feature which is neglected by these sites , the visitor counter helps getting everyone an idea about the popularity and utility of the site. Unit Analysis of Websites Information of the party Indian National Congress The site of the Indian National Congress had given Information about the history of the party , the latest manifesto, List of candidates and the current Office bearers. Bhartiya Janata Party The Bhartiya Janata Party had given Information about the Organisational Structure of the Party, History of the party, List of states under BJP rule and the current list of Member of Parliament Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi party had given information regarding the performance of the party in the recent elections and the list of candidates for the Lok Sabha Elections in 2009. There was no mention of any kind of History of the party and the party manifesto Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj party website was more focuses only on current activities of the party and no information about the past. They didnt have the list of candidates or constituency which they have won in the recent elections. There was no mention of any kind of organisational structure in the party. There was no mention of Alliance partners of any of the websites under perview Interaction with People Indian National Congress The website of the Indian National Congress had given option to submit their feedback, comments, suggestions and complaints. There was no Toll free number mentioned on their website. Bhartiya Janata Party The Bhartiya Janata party was more people and new media friendly they had subscription to RSS feed They also had an opinion poll on their website to know peoples view on a particular issue. Samajwadi Party The website of the Samajwadi Party had only contact numbers of the head office and respective branch offices. They had no other latest interactive features on their website. Bahujan Samaj Party The website was least interactive among websites of all the parties. The party was more interested in a monologue and not a dialogue with its voters. The website had no links or any other such things to keep the voters updated on the happenings. Appeal to the people Indian National Congress The Website of the Indian National Congress does not appeal to vote for it neither their alliances. There is no way that anyone interested in joining the party could apply for a position. There was no appeal for a donation for a noble cause. Bhartiya Janata Party The Website of the Bhartiya Janata Party does not appeal to vote for it neither their alliances. There is no way that anyone interested in joining the party could apply for a position. There was no appeal for a donation for a noble cause. Samajwadi Party The Website of the Samajwadi Party does not appeal to vote for it neither their alliances. There is no way that anyone interested in joining the party could apply for a position. There was no appeal for a donation for a noble cause. Bahujan Samaj Party The Website of the Bahujan Samaj Party does not appeal to vote for it neither their alliances. There is no way that anyone interested in joining the party could apply for a position. There was no appeal for a donation for a noble cause. Service to the people Indian National Congress Every website should be user friendly at the base level and somehow it should help us in the entire process of voting. The website of the Indian National Congress had no links for whats new on the website, FAQ s etc. Bhartiya Janata Party The website of the Bhartiya Janata Party had links whats new is happening to the political party in India. There was no service of any kind to the people. Samajwadi Party During Elections, finding your name on the voters list is one of the most tedious tasks for any voter. Samajwadi Party is the only party which is providing voters list to its users. This is one of the most useful features on any of the websites. Bahujan Samaj Party There is no feature of any kind on the Bahujan Samaj Party Website. The lowest on service to people. Media Coverage and Public Relations Indian National Congress The Media Coverage and Public Relations is an integral part of any website, it gives you a coverage on the latest happenings of the political party. The media coverage in the INC website give you info only on the election results and not on the party achievements in each of their state. Bhartiya Janata Party The BJP Website has put photo gallery section at the front of their home page and audio-video features to attract the visitors Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party has their media section updated and it has given it list of latest joins in the party on the website. The party is not in power in any state so its only mentioned its achievements when they were in power Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party uses it website to effectively communicate its latest achievements, especially in the state of Uttar Pradesh where its a ruling party. Other News of the party is lost in the clutter of information which is present in the website. Transparency Indian National Congress Transparency is one thing that the Indian voter likes to see with every political party. The site didnt try to remain transparent about declaring the assets of their candidates even though it was a simple thing to do. All the details of assets of a particular candidate are given on the site of the Election Commission of India. Bhartiya Janata Party The site didnt try to remain transparent about declaring the assets of their candidates even though it was a simple thing to do Samajwadi Party The site didnt try to remain transparent about declaring the assets of their candidates even though it was a simple thing to do Bahujan Samaj Party The site didnt try to remain transparent about declaring the assets of their candidates even though it was a simple thing to do Unit Analysis of Websites INC BJP SP BSP Information on the Website Interaction with people Appeal to People